WITCH Flight
by yellow 14
Summary: Sequel to Susan's war. Twenty years after Susan fought the Versuans, her daughter Will is thrown into battle. But all is not as it seems as a bigger threat looms over both sides in this bad war.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H that privilege belongs to Elizabetta Gnone and Disney. Ace Combat belongs to Namco. If I did own Ace Combat, the storylines would be much better, or at least have more realistic character dialogue.

AN: Set twenty years after Susan's war, this story has far more interaction with the Ace Combat game Ace Combat Squadron Leader. Hay Lin, Irma and Cornelia know each other from their schooldays and ditto Will and Taranee, but the two groups don't know each other yet.

Will gritted her teeth and looked behind her. An enemy fighter was on her tail and as she threw her plane sharply up her adversary followed her. But rather than be worried about this, she simply smiled to herself. "Lets see how you handle this." She murmured to herself. Deliberately stalling her engines, she let her plane slide backwards, past a clearly very surprised enemy pilot. Knowing that she only had a few seconds to make her shot, she pressed the firing button for her cannon.

But her cannon did not fire. Instead of the sound of 30mm cannon shells, all Will heard was a bleep in her earphones. Grinning, she pressed the transmit button and called the other plane. "Bad luck Flower, you loose."

"Looks like it doesn't it." Sighed her 'enemy' pilot. "Guess that means you'll be squad leader then. By the way, nice trick. I thought only Mig 29's could pull that off."

"You'd be surprised by what an Su 27 Flanker can do." Will replied. She didn't know the other woman well, but she had seemed pretty friendly. Especially as she was competing against Will for the right to lead the flight. A female voice interrupted her musings. "This is Colonel Nerissa. Flower, Heart return to base. Now that you've completed your little face off, you need to meet the other members of your flight. Although I believe that Lieutenant Hale knows one of them already." With that final cryptic note she left them in silence.

"Heart to Flower. Who do you think it is?"

"Hmm. Its not my best friend Elyon, she's been posted to Meridian base up north. Irma's in the naval air service, so unless she's gotten herself into major trouble it can't be her. Maybe my old pal Hay Lin. If it is her, I'd better warn you. She's one of those people who are always cheerful and more than a little hyperactive. Lets go find out shall we?" And with that Cornelia turned her fighter towards their base.

Will turned and followed. Most pilots didn't want to be posted here, but for Will this place had an important connection. It was where her parents had been stationed twenty years ago.

Flight Ensign Irma Lair stood to attention in front of Colonel Nerissa. She was still a little shocked she was here. After all she had only buzzed the frigate Poltemy once. Or twice. Ok she was warned that her long history of infractions was going to effect her military career but she never expected this.

"Flight Ensign Irma Lair." Began Colonel Nerissa in a sharp voice. "Do you know why you are here?"

Irma was tempted to give a sarcastic retort, but decided that it wasn't really a good idea to aggravate her CO on her first day. "Yes ma'am. Your squadron is a pilot short and I was picked to fill that gap."

Colonel Nerissa smiled at her. "And of course having a NAVAL PILOT on an air force base is of course perfectly normal isn't it?" She asked in a sarcastic voice, before continuing "No, don't bother to answer that, it was a rhetorical question. You Flight Ensign Lair have a disciplinary record as long as my arm. If your father wasn't Captain Lair of the missile frigate Gumrak then I have no doubt that you would be in a military prison by now."

That wasn't true but she was enjoying herself too much to tell her THAT. "In short Ensign Lair you need to straighten out before you're kicked out. You only have fifteen more months of national service to do, so don't worry, you'll be out soon enough. However until then" Nerissa fixed her with a steely gaze that would terrify a lesser pilot "YOU aren't going to give me any trouble now are you?"

"No ma'am." Irma replied quietly, while thinking about just how much Colonel Nerissa was going to wish she, Irma Lair had never come to her base.

"Good" Nerissa smiled. From the airfield outside came the sound of two planes landing. "Ah, that'll be the two candidates for flight leader landing now. Go into the pilots lounge to meet them." She smiled "One of them you happen to know. I'm going in there in a few minutes to announce the leader of Guardian flight."

Irma felt a slight glimmer of hope. Maybe it was her best friend Hay Lin. When she had last heard from her friend Hay Lin she was still awaiting posting. With a slight smile she left Nerissa's office.

Will and Cornelia walked into the pilots lounge and sat down. Scanning the room, she saw a familiar dark skinned face. "Taranee!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

Taranee looked at her and squealed in delight as she recognised her old schoolfriend. "Will!" she cried "I haven't seen you since basic training. Well I was just beginning my training as a strategic bomber pilot when someone found out who my dad was. So I got transferred to fighter-bombers and got rushed through so I'd complete my training on time. Sorry I didn't write but I just didn't have any time to spare."

About thirty seconds later however a conversation of a different nature began. "Irma Lair. What are YOU doing here? What's a naval pilot doing with real flyers?"

"Like you would know anything about flying Corny. If you must know I was called in to make up for you."

They continued to argue amicably for the next few minutes until Colonel Nerissa cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "I have an important announcement to make. From this day onwards Flight Lieutenant Will Vandom or Heart as she's known in the air is your new flight lead. Understood?" They all nodded. "Very well. That is all" she said and left the building.

"Ha! Someone beat you Corny! But with a codename of Flower what do you expect?" Irma crowed. But it was Will who reacted first. "Hey leave her alone! She's a good pilot."

Taranee opened her mouth to back up her friend, but Cornelia held up her hand. "Relax please. Irma and I have always been like this, but it's nothing personal." Looking at the disbelieving faces of Taranee and Will, she added "Honest! Besides it takes more than a little fish to worry me."

"Little fish? Why you…" and they continued to argue. Will and Taranee just looked at each other with expressions that clearly said 'we have to WORK with these nutters?'

Hay Lin stood back to admire her work. Ok a tornado was hardly hardest thing she'd ever drawn, but it was her name in the air. Still she thought to herself, I've finally gotten to where I'm to be stationed. Her friend Irma might tease her about choosing to fly the short ranged lightweight fighter that was the Mig 29 Fulcrum, but she loved the planes responsiveness and manoeuvrability. Sure the Su 27 Flanker was good, but to Hay Lin it always seemed so heavy by comparison. Speaking of which, she had a letters to write. Both to her family and her friends Irma and Cornelia.

Her squadron leader, a man named Andrew Swift watched as the newest addition to his squadron skipped to her quarters. She was certainly an energetic girl. He hoped she didn't lose her cheeriness or was killed under his command. He looked at the memo on his desk again and sighed. Everything had to be stepped up in preparation for war. That wasn't any guarantee that war was coming but he could feel it coming in his bones. He had been just like her back in 1995. The war against Belka had been hard and he had seen many friends die in that conflict.

AN: Yes I know that W.I.T.C.H is meant to form at the beginning but a flight consists of four planes, not five. Not to worry Hay Lin will join them soon enough. I've also done a bit of guessing about the Su 27 Flankers ability to perform the manoeuvre Will used to beat Cornelia. It is a real manoeuvre and the Mig 29 Fulcrum is famous for doing it at airshows. After the plane slides back, its nose falls downward. Western fighters can't do this manoeuvre at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H or Ace Combat.

AN: SEAD stands for suppression of enemy air defences. It refers to aircraft that are used to destroy ground based anti aircraft weapons such as SAMs as well as jamming radar's etc.

Hay Lin drummed her fingers nervously. Everyone was on edge as they awaited the arrival of Deputy Prime Minister Jim Nedre. While most people on the base had little respect for the small greasy man, the influence he had could see you posted to a far less pleasant base than this. Murska air base, with its good climate, facing a friendly nation and the nearby port city of Mursk meant that Murska air base was widely believed to be the best posting a pilot could ask for and no one wanted to risk losing it.

Ten minutes later he arrived and the squadron assembled on parade next to the fourth runway. But as he began to address them, a shrill alarm tore through the air and everyone rushed to their combat stations. Just as Hay Lin reached her fighter, the first wave of enemy fighters came and dropped their bombs. A second wave was clearly visible on the horizon. Bringing her plane onto the runway, Hay Lin rapidly took off to meet the attackers.

"This is Tornado, I'm airborne" She called over the radio.

"Good. You're with me. Pivot, Hothead and Alien join us in stopping that second wave. The rest of you take out that first wave before they turn around and attack again" replied her squadron leader.

Hay Lin looked around her. Almost everyone had gotten airborne with the exception of two. She didn't know what had happened to them but she was glad that most of them had gotten in the air. Five planes turned towards the first wave and she felt a brief urge to wish them good luck. But she knew that they had the easier task. 'But who were their attackers?' She thought to herself 'and why here?' But before she could dwell on the subject any further, her squadron leaders voice cut through her thoughts.

"All pilots lock and load."

Switching her missile controls to the medium range R-77s, Hay Lin locked on to four of the enemy planes and fired, along with her comrades. However the enemy F-16 Falcons were to close for the missiles to be very effective. None the less, they thinned the enemy numbers, from 40 planes down to 25. Then came the dogfight as the two sets of planes met.

Hay Lin rolled her fighter over as an F-16 on her right fired its cannon under the chin of her fighter, missing her by mere inches. Using her helmet mounted sights, she locked an R-73 onto the Falcon and fired. Without stopping to check on the success of her shot, Hay Lin turned her plane towards another F-16 and used her cannon to tear him apart. Pulling her Mig 29 upwards she found herself facing another F-16 and fired her cannon once again. The rest second wave just dumped their bombs and ran.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

One hour later.

The pilots lounge was full of pilots avidly talking about the attack. Where they'd come from, who they were and why was what everyone wanted to know and there was no shortage of theories.

"Listen, the only place they could've come from is Sand Island." Said a young man with short blond hair.

"No way Gary that's Osean territory. I reckon they were carrier birds." replied his friend passionately.

"Carrier?" Gary snorted. "The F-16 is a land based bird Tom, remember?"

It was then that a third voice interrupted them "Not quiet. The Belkans built a carrier version during the Belkan war." The woman paused. "It's not our problem anyway. That's Intel's job, not ours."

"What puzzles me" began the squadron leader Andrew Swift "is that if the Oseans wanted to destroy this base they'd have done a better job of it. After all, no SEAD aircraft, no escort fighters nothing. Its as though they wanted us to beat them."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

One day later at the airbase on the Yuktobonian/ Versuan border.

Will entered Colonel Nerissa's office with a feeling of slight trepidation. Almost every time Will had been here, it had been to do with Ensign Lair and whatever misdemeanour she had done. Discipline issues aside though, Will had found the Irma Lair to be a good laugh and an excellent pilot. Actually all of them had proven to be exceptional pilots and they were fast becoming a team. So it was something of a surprise when she asked Will a question about her Osean expatriate comrades.

"Flight Lieutenant Vandom. Do you trust Flight Lieutenants Hale and Cook?"

Will looked at Colonel Nerissa. "Colonel" she began in a voice that barely concealed her anger "I've known Flight Lieutenant Cook since middle school. I would trust her with my life. As for Flight Lieutenant Hale, I've not known her for as long, but I see no reason to distrust her. Why do you ask" she finished coldly.

"Because Lieutenant Vandom in two hours time, unless the Oseans are prepared to cease all offensive operations against us, we will be forced to declare war on the Osean Federation. So I ask you again, can they be trusted?"

"Yes. Without doubt they all can be trusted" Will replied. Colonel Nerissa's expression didn't change, but her eyes showed her disappointment at Will's answer, but she didn't press the issue. Instead a she changed track.

"The daughter of Susan Vandom and Charles Mann shouldn't sit out a major conflict like this in a remote base like this. There are several squadrons who would welcome a pilot descended from such an august lineage. And this is the best way for any pilot to make a name for themselves as well as gain rapid promotion." She offered, but Will shook her head.

"I belong with this squadron Colonel. We've become a good team and I think it would be in Yuktobonia's best interests if we stay together. A new squadron would mean starting from scratch again. Besides I'm amongst friends here." Will replied, her voice not revealing the slightest hint of the anger she felt about Nerissa's offer.

"Very well then. You're dismissed." Colonel Nerissa said. With a swift salute, Will turned around and left the office. Only after she had reached the pilots lounge did she let her feelings out with a sudden punch to the wall, accompanied by a roar.

Colonel Nerissa waited until she was sure she was alone before she vented her anger by hitting the wall. Damn that woman! This war was supposed to foster distrust and hatred and that Vandom woman wasn't helping. Still the main plan was going ahead as scheduled. And as she expected, she received a phone call informing her that war had begun. And so began a series of events that was going to test all of them to the limit.

AN: When I started to write this chapter, I was suffering a bit of writers block and I was trying to clear it. So I apologise for the quality of this chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H or Ace Combat. So don't sue ok?

For Hay Lin, the war seemed to unfold in the blink of an eye. Her squadron, along with two others was assigned to protect their airbase. She must have seen almost every type of military aircraft in service with the Yuktobonian military. The other two squadrons defending Murska airbase were a squadron of Mig 31 Foxhound M's and a squadron of the latest Su-47 Berkut's. So in an effort to avoid boredom during the dull early days of the war, Hay Lin began to draw scenes from around the base.

She started with the aircraft taking off to their missions. One of the pilots in her squadron however noticed how good she was and asked for a portrait to send home. Before she knew it, Hay Lin became the squadrons official war artist, drawing scenes from around the base and even being paid a little extra because of her extra work.

For Will and her squad however, the war didn't even seem to bother with them. Will had told her friends about what Colonel Nerissa had asked of her. Needless to say, it went down like a lead balloon. To keep their minds off of Colonel Nerissa's accusations, Will began to do as many aerial combat training drills as possible.

"Oh why oh why does she keep doing this? Will's a good person and everything but come on. In the past week I've done enough drills to do them in my sleep." Moaned Irma in the pilot's lounge after another strenuous round of training. Cornelia shot her a contemptuous look and Irma sighed. Corny really didn't get how hard on the body it was flying the way she did. To make things worse, Corny had outmanoeuvred her three times out of five.

"Oh come on Irma, you still have enough time and energy to prank Colonel Nerissa. What was it this time? Oh yes you rigged up her car to spit oil all over her uniform in the boot while she drove. Which shows us all that you really are as stupid as you look." Cornelia said with a smirk.

"Oh and why is that oh mighty planner? You couldn't make a joke if you tried." Snapped Irma.

"Oh it was a good trick, but anyone with half a brain could tell you to do it so that you aren't SEEN by the CCTV system watching the cars." Cornelia replied calmly before heading to her quarters.

Taranee watched the exchange with mild interest. Despite the fact that they were old friends, Taranee found it fascinating that Cornelia and Irma argued so much. Even stranger was the fact that they seemed to enjoy it far too much to stop.

Truth be told, Cornelia felt torn between the country she had once called home and the country she was living in. Cornelia hadn't told anyone about her feelings, not least because Cornelia was fiercely independent. However during a long distance phone call to Elyon at Meridian base, she had told her best friend. That helped a lot. However fate was about to throw them straight in to the deep end and it started with a routine flight.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

It was Will who first saw it. An aircraft at the edge of Yuktobonian airspace, flying at very low altitude.

"This is Heart to all Guardian flight aircraft. Do you see that aircraft flying down there?"

Taranee frowned as she saw the low flying aircraft in front of them. It looked like some kind of super sized B-2 Spirit. Except the B-2 Spirit didn't have those sort of bulges on it.

"This is Heatwave. Roger that. What type of aircraft is it? I've never seen anything like it." Taranee called over the radio.

"I don't know Heatwave. Approach with caution." Replied Will.

The others agreed and they closed in on the aircraft in combat formation.

"Attention unidentified aircraft, you are in Yuktobonian airspace. Do you need assistance? Over" Will said over the radio to the strange aircraft. The response was swift and almost deadly for Will. A missile flew out of one of the bulges and had Will not broken away and released a cloud of chaff, it would have killed her outright. Needless to say, that was a bad idea.

"This is Colonel Nerissa your base commander. Do not engage, I repeat do not engage."

"That's nice Colonel. What are we supposed to do, die?" Irma asked in a sarcastic voice.

"Osprey stop moaning, start shooting." Will yelled at her over the radio.

"Aye, aye sir. This is Osprey I'm engaging"

"This is Flower, I'm engaging."

"This is Heatwave, I'm engaging."

"This is Colonel Nerissa, I order you to stand down"

They ignored her. Will felt a slight shudder as the two R-77 missiles left her wings. They weren't the only ones. The rest of the flight had fired two R-77s each at the same time. Wills missiles hit first, but surprisingly the strange aircraft kept flying. However the rest of the flights missiles hit it soon afterwards. The plane began to spin out of control and crashed into the ground and Will felt a slight rush of exhilaration. Her first time in combat and she had successfully engaged an enemy.

Her and her flight were no longer unblooded rookies. It wasn't the ideal situation to prove yourself, but that was how the situation was. Now it was time to face the music. But she wasn't scared of Colonel Nerissa. She knew full well that if it went to court Marshall she would be vindicated.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Hay Lin was more than a little surprised to discover that her squadron had been given a new assignment. Instead of flying CAP duties, today her squadron was going to provide top cover for a squadron of Su-25 Frogfoots and a squadron of Ka-50 Hokum helicopters, while they provided close air support for the ground forces landing at Sand Island. She was more than a little nervous too. It was after all her first time in combat since the war began. Still everyone has to start somewhere.

The battle began at 16:00 hours (4 in the afternoon). Enemy fighters swarmed to defend their own forces and battle was joined. Hay Lin pulled her fighter upwards, releasing flares as she went and the enemy sidewinder exploded behind her. Using her helmet mounted sights, she locked an R-73 onto an F-15 Eagle on her left, before being forced to turn hard to avoid another sidewinder missile. The aircraft that fired it, an F-16 pulled itself round to engage her with its cannon.

The two aircraft began circling each other. Hay Lin shot a missile at him, but he shook it off and was on her tail with a speed that was terrifying. Cannon shells hit her aircraft and with a desperate jerk on her joystick, she pulled her plane in a loop and found herself so close to the Osean pilot she could see his face. With a slight nudge to her rudders, she rammed his rudder off with the nose of her aircraft.

She was glad to see him eject safely though. He might have been the enemy, but he was a very good pilot and she hoped to meet him when the war was over. Looking down she saw a squadron of Osean A-10 Warthogs taking off to support their efforts in defending the island. With a sigh, she dived after them and fired four R-77s after them. Fortunately for Hay Lin, the Warthogs were still taking off and all four missiles clamed a target.

Looking to her right, she saw a member of her squadron being chased down by an F/A-22 Raptor and her heart leapt. The F/A-22 Raptor was superior to her Mig-29 and stealth to boot. Still her colleague needed her and so she pulled her fighter sharply up and fired her cannon into the enemy fighter. For a moment it looked like she hadn't damaged it at all. But then the plane exploded in a ball of flame.

The voice of Lieutenant Daniel Swartz brought her back to reality.

"Hothead to Tornado, thanks for saving me back there. What happened?"

"No idea Hothead. Maybe one of my shells set off one of his missiles or something."

Before he could reply however, an emergency broadcast from one of their AWACs aircraft sounded over the radio.

"Attention all aircraft. Return to base immediately."

Turning her fighter towards home she began flying home. As she flew over the retreating Yuktobonian fleet, she knew that despite all their efforts, they had been defeated this time. Someone had even said that the Hrinfaxi had been sunk.

One of the Osean planes that had been fighting the Yuktobonian fleet fired a missile into her plane and Hay Lin was forced to eject. Hitting the water, she felt her life jacket inflate. One of the missile boats slowed down to pick her up. A young ensign grabbed her hand and pulled her up. With his messy black hair and green-brown eyes he was quite cute actually. When they got back to port, he asked her out.

"But-but I don't know your name!" Hay Lin stammered.

With a smile he extended his hand. "Ensign Eric Lyndon at your service. And what is the name of the beautiful young woman in front of me?"

Hay Lin blushed and then took his hand. "Flight Lieutenant Hay Lin."

"Well Lieutenant Hay Lin, Will you be so kind as to accompany me to the city of Mursk's finest restaurant, Lodelday for dinner tomorrow."

Hay Lin smiled. Most of the boys at school had ignored her and over the years she had come to think of herself as the ugly sister of the group, despite reassurances from her friends.

"Sure." She replied.

AN: I've taken some disturbing liberties with Hay Lins air battle against that Osean F-16. If she had really rammed his rudder off, then she probably would have gone down as well when the debris hit her plane, or worse still entered her engines. The fact that she was still flying is entirely down to luck and the writer.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H or Ace Combat.

When Will and her pilots landed, they were confronted by a very angry Colonel Nerissa. However, a court martial would not only clear her of all charges, but also draw unwanted attention to her own behaviour. Not to mention an investigation into the behaviour of the mysterious aircraft. Unwanted attention was the last thing the plan needed. So after giving them a lecture on obeying orders, she took steps to ensure that the annoying Lieutenant Vandom didn't interfere again.

The following night, there was a party to celebrate the twenty-first birthday of one of the pilots in the next flight. Being young and carefree, as they were, the party was loud and raucous. But as Will stepped outside for some air, an unfriendly pair of eyes watched her. Bringing the sniperscope to his eye, Harvey Slimerick took aim and gently squeezed the trigger.

As Will stepped out, she was unexpectedly pushed. It was that push which undoubtedly saved her life. She felt the wind of the bullet as it passed her. With reflexes so fast, they would have made a commando proud, she pulled out her Markov pistol and fired back a volley of rounds with astounding accuracy. Base security found Harvey Slimerick with five rounds in him. Two in the head, two in the chest and one in the leg.

"That's some shooting Lieutenant" commented Sergeant Vathek of the base security. Will blushed a little at his praise.

"I'm sure it's…" she began when a member of Sergeant Vathek's squad interrupted her.

"With all due respect Lieutenant, if the Sarge says it's good, then believe me, it's good."

"Will, most people couldn't hit a barn door at that range with a pistol. Especially with something like a Markov." Added her friend Taranee.

As she stepped back into the party, Cornelia made an announcement over the sound system.

"I propose a toast, to the leader of Guardian flight and an amazing shot, Will Vandom."

Will felt a slight smile on her face as everyone in the room raised their glasses to her. A few years ago, she would have been mortified by this much attention, but she had become far more confident as the years went by. Which is why she was flight lead.

Colonel Nerissa ground her teeth furiously as she went over the plan to deal with Miss Vandom in her head. Harvey Slimerick had not come cheap and he had failed. Killing Will now was going to be impossible, with Sergeant Vathek tightening up the base security with increased patrols and placing mines outside the base. That's the trouble with Sergeant Vathek. The tall, bulky man was both incorruptible and thorough. Still, the plan was proceeding smoothly enough, despite setbacks. And that would have to do for now.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Hay Lin felt like she was walking on air. After an amazing date at Lodelday, Eric Lyndon had asked her for a second. After that, they began seeing each other regularly.

The war had quietened down since the failed attempt to invade Sand Island and there were rumours that Prime Minister Nikanor and President Harling were at the negotiating table. In fact the only sign that there was a war going on at all, was the arrival of an elite squadron of Belkan aces.

Hay Lin had tried to befriend some of these pilots, but they rejected her attempts at friendship.

"Listen to me, little girl" began one of the Belkan aces to her in a cold voice. "I am Miranda Spiderwell, known as Black Widow in the air. During the Belkan war, I successfully destroyed thirty-two Yuktobonian fighters in the air and twenty-nine Osean. On top of that, I destroyed almost fifty bombers from the allied nations. I've never encountered a pilot from either side who's worthy of me. Because of my aerial skills and the skills of my comrades, the Yuktobonian air force offered me a job, but it doesn't mean I have to like you. So stay away from me. Unless you are worthy of my attention of course."

Then, one morning, they took off on a secret mission. Out of the twelve planes that left, only six returned. Down to half strength, the Belkans left Murska. Hay Lin felt a slight sense of smugness and a twinge of fear about their failure. After all, if someone could defeat them, what chance did the rest of them have? Little did she know that she was going to find out very soon.

AN: Yes I know it's short, but in the game it's a period of quiet and it reduces the amount of stuff I can do with them. The next chapter will probably be longer. Probably.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H or Ace Combat.

Will drummed her fingers nervously against her leg as she walked towards Colonel Nerissa's office. She had no idea about why she was getting called into Nerissa's office, but she felt sure that it wasn't anything good. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the office.

To her surprise, she wasn't the only person there. In a chair to the left side of the office, sat Lieutenant Tobia's Drake, leader of Protector flight. Next to him sat Jack Wilson, leader of Farstrike flight. Taking a seat in the remaining chair, all three of them faced the Colonel.

"I suppose you're all wondering why you're here." Colonel Nerissa began. "We have been transferred to frontline duties. I've called you here to brief you on the details of the transfer and you will pass these details onto your respective commands."

"With all due respect Colonel, why are we being transferred now?" Lieutenant Wilson asked.

"Because high command wants to have as many pilots as possible to repel the Osean invasion forces." Nerissa replied calmly. "Are there any more questions?" she finished in a sweet tone, which was somewhat scary. After all, Colonel Nerissa wasn't exactly noteworthy for being easy to deal with.

Looking at them, she saw the three flight leads shake their heads. A smile crossed her face. "Very good. Then I'll begin…."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Hay Lin felt a slight twinge of annoyance at the transfer of her squadron. While it made sense, it was annoying to leave without a fight. When the Osean forces had landed, her squadron wasn't involved in the defence efforts. And that annoyed her no end. And now her squadron had to fly their planes to a new base further inland, out of reach of the Osean invasion. Staying at Murska was no longer an option now. Normally a change of bases wouldn't bother her as much as this, but it was taking her away from Eric and that upset her.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"So lets get this straight. We're going to fly to Cavigor base in our fighters? Don't they know how uncomfortable that is?" Irma asked in an annoyed tone.

"Probably. Maybe you annoyed the wrong people or something." Answered Cornelia in a smug tone. Irma glared at her.

"It was a rhetorical question Blondie!" Irma snapped.

"Enough!" shouted Will as she slammed her fists onto the table. I don't like it any more than you do, but that's what's going to happen. We leave tomorrow at 09:00 hours."

Taranee looked at her friend quizzically. It wasn't like her to snap like that. She had a feeling there was more to it then just a transfer. When the others left, she approached Will and asked

"What's up Will? It's not like you to snap like that."

"I'm just worried about how I'll do when I get there." She paused "After all T, my mum's this really famous ace and everyone's expecting me to be amazing as well. I guess I'm feeling the pressure, y'know?"

Taranee smiled. "You'll do fine Will, trust me. Don't worry about being as good as your mum, just worry about being as good as YOU can be, ok?"

Will smiled back. "Yeah, you're right T. I'm not my mother, I'm me. She's always said that as well."

"See. Just goes to show that you should listen to her more." Taranee said, waving her finger at her.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Hay Lin and Eric kissed each other goodbye. He wiped away her tears saying

"Come on Hay Lin. It's not the end. I'll come and see you as soon as possible, I promise."

"Cross your heart?" she asked through her tears.

"And hope to die. You're worth it Hay, you really are."

With that they parted. As Hay Lin stepped into her fighter, she turned and waved Murska air base goodbye. In a few hours time, she would be at Cavigor air base. Bringing her plane onto the runway, she opened her throttles and took to the skies. Joining the rest of her squadron in formation, they turned as one and set course for Cavigor.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Guardian flight report in." Will called over the radio.

"This is Osprey, reporting in."

"This is Flower, reporting in."

"This is Heatwave, reporting in."

"This is Heart. All fighters fall in to formation and turn to face Cavigor airbase."

As they turned to face Cavigor air base, they all had their own thoughts about leaving. Will mentally said goodbye to the base that had meant so much to her and her family and steeled herself for the challenges ahead. Irma on the other hand, felt a sense relief that she finally had a chance to prove herself in battle and glad that she wasn't stuck at this remote base any more. Taranee worried about whether she was up to standard and Cornelia felt a sense of unease about facing the Osean forces.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Hay Lins squadron was flying near the college town of Orus when reports of the attack on Orus's Engineering College came through. Her squadron leader's response was immediate.

"This is Shadow to all fighters. Prepare to engage."

Turning towards the college, Hay Lin was surprised to see absolutely no Osean fighters on her radar. Which made no sense at all. Even stealth birds would show up on their most recent radar upgrade, but instead, all she was seeing was friendly signatures on the IFF. (Interrogation Friend or Foe)

"Umm… This is Tornado. I've only got friendly signatures on my IFF. Where are they?"

"Not sure Tornado." Her squadron leader replied. "Perhaps we should ask…" His voice trailed off as the 'friendly' fighters came into view. "Oh my god! They're F-15 Actives. They're Osean birds with our codes. All fighters, break, break!"

The signatures change in an instant. What had been showing as friendly fighters, suddenly became hostiles in the blink of an eye. Over half the squadron was shot down as the F-15 Actives fired their AIM 120 AMRAAM missiles. The survivors scattered and the enemy gave chase.

"Damn! They're gaining on me!" came one panicking voice over the radio.

"This is Hothead. They've got me. I'm bailing out."

As she watched him eject however, she saw the F-15 Active that had shot him down, turn and shoot him.

"They're shooting up anyone who ejects. They don't want any survivors at all." Andrew Swift yelled over the radio.

Using her helmet mounted sights, she fired an R-73 at one of the F-15's to her left. But even as she fired another F-15 Active fired a sidewinder at her. Turning hard and releasing flares, she twisted and turned as two F-15 Actives began to pursue her. She knew that they were in serious trouble now. The F-15 Active had a slight advantage in terms of manoeuvrability over the Mig 29, but the Mig was slightly faster. In a one to one dogfight, they were an even match, the skill of the pilots being the deciding factor. But two to one changed the odds.

Breaking, jinxing, twisting and turning, Hay Lin desperately concentrated on staying alive. She could see the others going down around her. Her squadron leader Andrew Swift managed to bring a couple of them down before he too was shot down. Soon she was on her own, with almost an entire squadron of enemy fighters against her. With a slight sigh, she prepared to transmit what would probably be her last message. "This is Tornado, calling any friendly fighters in the area. I am in desperate need of assistance. I'm over Orus. And if help arrives too late, can you let Ensign Lyndon know that I loved him."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Irma let out a gasp of recognition as she recognised the voice. "Corny, that's Hay Lin's voice, I'm sure of it!"

"Are you sure?" Cornelia asked, her tone anxious.

"She's been my best friend since kindergarten. Of course I'm sure." Irma snapped back.

"This is Vengeance. Do not move to engage until refuelling operations are complete."

"Sod that Colonel Nerissa. I'm gonna save her." Irma snapped in reply.

"As am I" Added Cornelia. And with that statement, they turned their fighters towards Orus and accelerated. Will watched them leave and turned to join them. Less than a second later she was joined by Taranee.

"Disobeying orders seems to be becoming a bad habit, eh Heart?" she commented.

"Hey we can't let our friends down now can we, Heatwave?" Will replied with amusement.

000000000000000000000000000000

Hay Lin's fighter shuddered under cannon fire from one of the hostile aircraft. Wherever she turned, she couldn't escape. As the enemy fighter brought his cannon towards her cockpit, she closed her eyes and waited for her inevitable death. It never came. Two of the F-15's went down in short order as they were hit by two R-77's. The others jinxed away, releasing chaff and flares and narrowly avoided the same fate. One of them flew right into Hay Lin's sights and she fired her cannons into him at point blank range. As he exploded into a ball of fire, Hay Lin heard a familiar voice over the radio.

"Nice going Hay. When we get to base, you are going to tell us all about this Ensign Lyndon."

"And don't leave anything out."

"Irma! Cornelia! Boy am I glad to see you guys." She called over the radio.

The Active's turned and fled.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000

The five of them met the tanker to refuel, before continuing on to Cavigor airbase. When they got there, Will, Irma, Cornelia and Taranee were hauled up in front of the Colonel.

"When I give an order, I expect it to be obeyed!" she yelled at them. "As a punishment, you all have kitchen duties for a week. I would have you grounded, but you did save a fellow pilot. Don't you dare disobey orders like that again! Understand?"

"Yes Ma'am!" they replied in unison.

"On a different subject, the Mig 29 pilot you saved, a Lieutenant Hay Lin, will be joining your flight. She's the only surviving member of her squadron. You're dismissed."

They left her office. Damn that fool, Lord Cedric. He endangered the plans of the grey men for his own gain. He would not be doing that again, not if he wanted to keep his role as squadron leader, he wouldn't.

AN: OK this is the longest chapter I've ever written. In answer to your question Heart, I've been busy updating my various fics, most notably the Erusian aces, an Ace Combat fic. Oh and if you haven't gotten my review replies, thanks for reveiwing.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H or Ace Combat.

The day after Hay Lin joined them, they were scrambled. Several Osean bombers were en route to an important munitions dump some five miles to the north. Cornelia and Will had been in the kitchen at the time, peeling potato's. Taranee and Irma were taking out the rubbish, with Hay Lin giving them a hand. Although Hay Lin wasn't on punishment duty, she had been most insistent on helping them out.

"After all, if it wasn't for you guys, I'd be toast" she cheerfully informed Will, when Will told her she didn't need to help them. To be honest, her help was appreciated too much for them to want to try and dissuade her.

An all too familiar voice cut into her reverie.

"This is Colonel Nerissa of base command. All pilots climb to 40,000 feet and take heading 084 immediately. And yes Guardian flight that means you as well."

Will felt herself grin at Colonel Nerissa's comment. Colonel Nerissa was one of those Commanding Officers that were widely disliked by her pilots, not least because she treated them as though they were nothing more then expendable cannon fodder.

As they climbed to 40,0000 feet, Will could make out the shapes of the Osean B-52's in the distance. Locking her R-77 missiles onto four separate targets, her radar warning system began flashing as the Osean fighters began to do the same to them with their AIM 120 AMRAAM missiles. Both sides fired at the same time. With only seconds to go before the Oseans missiles hit them, Will and her flight split formation, releasing chaff. However five members of the squadron didn't react fast enough, their planes plunging to the ground in flames.

"This is Heart to all Guardian flight aircraft. Report in."

"This is Osprey. Those AMRAAM's didn't even come close."

"This is Flower. Bet you're glad we did all those drills now, aren't you?"

"This is Heatwave. I'm good."

"This is Tornado. I'm better than that Heart."

Will felt a rush of relief as she heard the voices of her flight call in. It felt good to know that no one on her flight had been shot down before they saw the enemy. She shouldn't really be surprised that their newest pilot had survived though, she was after all, a confirmed ace already.

"Heart to all Guardian flight aircraft. Good hunting" she said as they closed on the enemy formation.

The dogfight was intense. Will snapped off an R-73 missile at an Osean F-15 Eagle turning above her, before being forced to turn hard as another Eagle fired a Sidewinder at her. Her turn put her on the tail of an F-16 Falcon and she flipped her plane over and allowed the enemy missile chasing her to destroy the Falcon in front of her. Another R-73 rolled off her wings as she locked onto another Falcon. A few seconds later, she saw it go down, victim of her missile.

Irma wasn't doing so well. Twisting and turning, releasing flares and chaff as she went, Irma was finding aerial combat a little more intense than she thought.

"This is Osprey, it feels like their all targeting me. Can somebody help me here?"

Two of her attackers exploded in a ball of flames.

"They probably didn't want to listen to your terrible radio." Her rescuer commented. But before she could reply, another F-16 bounced Cornelia, his cannon fire just missing her. As they twisted and turned, Irma locked an R-73 onto him and fired. As the enemy plane exploded, she couldn't resist a sarcastic comment.

"I'm guessing he's a fan."

Taranee was fast and furious, her Su 27 Flanker tearing into the Osean bombers with a vengeance, missiles and guns blazing. After she downed the first bomber, one of the escort fighters tried to bounce her, an F-15 Eagle. But he was travelling faster than she was and she let him overshoot her. As he flew into her sights, her thumb depressed the cannon-firing button and tore him apart.

Hay Lin's plane danced through the air almost effortlessly, her Mig 29 twisted and turned with the grace of a ballet dancer. Two enemy Eagles fell to her missiles, a Falcon to her cannon. One Falcon's cannon fire hit her port rudder, but Will shot him down with her cannon before he had a chance to correct his aim.

The remaining enemy aircraft left the battlefield, their bombers decimated. However plenty of friendly fighters had gone down as well.

0000000000000000000000000000000000

Ten minutes later at Cavigor airbase.

"No way! Will and Taranee BOTH made ace today!" Irma exclaimed at the debriefing. Will just grinned.

"Nope" she began "Count 'em up Irma. Two R-77 kills at medium range, a couple of Eagles. Then at close quarters, three Falcons. One with a missile from one of his friends, no less. But it was Taranee who got the most kills today."

"Yeah, but most of my kills were bombers, not fighters." Taranee replied "Besides, it was only one more than you anyway. Congratulations Will"

"Yeah, well done." Hay Lin added.

Later in the pilots lounge, Cornelia held her glass up and tapped the side to get everyone's attention.

"A toast" she began, "To our newest aces, Will and Taranee."

Everyone in the room raised their glasses and toasted them both. And Will felt her worries about living up to her parents reputations slip away. She could do this, she was sure.

AN: This chapter is mostly a filler chapter. It was the result of me playing too much Ace Combat. Will and the girls need time to become aces in their own right before they disrupt the plans of Nerissa and Phobos. It will happen though, trust me.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: See ch1

AN: The current kill scores for W.I.T.C.H Flight are the following:

Hay Lin: Twelve confirmed and three probables.

Taranee: Six and a quarter

Will: Five and a quarter

Cornelia: Four and a quarter.

Irma: Three and a quarter.

They're not the top aces of Yuktobonia yet, but they're working on it. Cornelia and Irma aren't aces yet.

When a target is 'painted' it is being targeted by a laser designator.

Hay Lin looked up at the two women standing above her. She wasn't able to avoid these questions forever, so she prepared for the interrogation that was about to come.

"So" the brunette began "how did you meet this Ensign Lyndon?"

Hay Lin grinned. Trust Irma to want to start at the beginning.

"He hauled me out of the water after I got shot down. He asked me out after we got back to port."

"Oh?" said Cornelia, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah I got downed when we were attempting to invade Sand Island." Hay Lin replied.

The questions continued fast and furious. What was he like, where did they go, had they kissed etc.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" a mans voice asked from behind them. As they turned to face the owner of the voice, Hay Lin let out a squeal of recognition.

"Eric!" she cried as she stood up. Grabbing her round the waist, they snogged each other very passionately.

When they parted, Hay Lin could see Irma making wretching noises and Cornelia looking at them with a bemused look on her face.

"Guess we didn't need to worry about our little Hay after all" Irma quipped.

"Aww aren't they cute?" Cornelia said in a singsong voice.

"Yeah I think I'll be sick" Irma replied sarcastically. She turned to face them.

"Get a room you two!" She yelled.

Hay Lin just smiled. Nothing was going to get her down now that she was reunited with Eric.

"We'll just leave you two lovebirds alone." Irma said as she dragged Cornelia from the room. Trust a romantic like Cornelia to want to stay, she thought to herself as she brought the struggling Cornelia from the room.

In the corridor they ran into Will.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you" Irma said, indicating towards the door of the pilots lounge. "Hay Lin's in there with her boyfriend and they're enough to make you sick."

"At least someone on our flight is getting some action in that area." Will replied. "My love life's a joke."

"Oh? What's brought this on I wonder?" Cornelia asked curiously.

"Well my ex boyfriend Matt Olsen is getting married in a few weeks time. I guess it kinda brought it into focus, y'know." Replied Will

"Maybe one of those nice Spetsnaz commando's that arrived earlier today might change that." Cornelia said with a slight smile.

"Yeah and maybe I'll fall head over heels in love with Martin while we're on the subject. Let's face it guys, they're only here for today and maybe tomorrow tops I reckon. It's not gonna happen." Irma quipped in reply. Before Will could ask who Martin was, she turned a corner and walked smack bang right into one of those commando's.

"Why don't you look where you're going?" He exclaimed angrily.

Under normal circumstances Will would probably have apologised. But after his reaction and the fact that she was feeling a little down after finding out about Matt, she snapped at him instead.

"This is our base, why don't YOU look where you're going!" she snapped as she noticed his green-blue eyes. Green-blue eyes that made her heart beat double time. Not to mention his short brown hair. Stop it Will admonished to herself. Before he could reply, Cornelia beat him to it.

"Caleb Hart." She cried, "You are being rude to my flight lead and friend Will Vandom. Apologise"

Caleb stood up and offered Will his hand. "Sorry I wasn't looking where I was going." He said

"Me neither. Sorry" Will replied as she tried to ignore the tingling sensation that was going up her arm as she took Caleb's hand. As the two of them went their separate ways, Cornelia and Irma were smirking at Will.

"What?" she asked.

"You like him." Irma replied as a statement, not a question.

Will felt her cheeks warm up and she was sure she was blushing.

"Am I really that obvious?" she asked, giving up any hope of even trying to fool her two friends.

"Yes." They both replied simultaneously.

"So who's this Martin guy you mentioned earlier?" Will asked, determined to change the subject.

"Martin" Cornelia began "Is an old schoolfriend of Irma's who keeps asking her out. She considers him to be a dork and she keeps on rejecting him." Cornelia paused before adding "But we all know her true feelings for him under constant stream of rejections."

"Hey that's not true!" Irma objected and the two of them began to argue once more. Will just grinned.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000

"We will be picked up by the helicopter at 03:00 hours the following day. Any questions?" Sergeant Caleb Hart asked his men as he finished the briefing. There weren't any and Caleb knew it. His team was the best in the Spetsnaz and they knew precisely what to do. Caleb had given them a thorough briefing and so there wasn't any questions needed. But during the briefing, Caleb's mind had kept wondering back to the redheaded flight lead he'd run into. And it had been a surprise to run into his ex as well. He wasn't exactly proud of how he'd acted during his break up with Cornelia though and so he felt some trepidation about allowing himself to fall in love again. Fate on the other hand, had different ideas.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

It was supposed to be a simple strike mission to support the commando's mission. Emphasise on simple. Nobody expected the Oseans to be able to deploy one squadron to intercept the attack in time, let alone two. Four planes against twenty-four. Not exactly fair odds by any standards. Still, Will reflected, we're not doing to bad. Her pilots were proving to be more than a match for the Osean fighters they were facing. Although it certainly helped that the Oseans were flying obsolete F-5 Tiger II's.

Irma had shot down five of them in close succession and together with Cornelia had destroyed a sixth. Taranee's doubts were being proved groundless as she bagged another four planes to her kill record. Cornelia had shot down six of them, the last one when she tricked him into flying into a set of power lines. Will herself had downed six fighters when the reinforcements arrived in the shape of four F-16 Falcons.

"Heart to base. Where are the reinforcements?" Will asked angrily over the radio. She knew full well that without help, Guardian flight would have to abort the mission.

Four R-77's crashed into the F-16's. A familiar Mig 29 flew onto the battlefield.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join?" Hay Lin asked with amusement.

"You're always welcome Tornado." Irma replied.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000

Caleb looked at his watch for the third time in a row.

"They're late." He murmured to himself. Caleb liked his missions to run on time. It was a good way of avoiding mistakes. "We'll give them five more minutes, then we'll run with plan B" he told his friend Corporal Aldarn Drake. With less then a minute to go, the welcoming sight of two Su-27's roared overhead.

"This is Heart calling Alpha, do you read? Over" crackled the radio.

"This is Alpha. Are you ready to go?" Caleb asked.

"Ready when you are Alpha." She replied. Caleb pointed the laser designator at the target.

"OK Heart, it's all yours" he said over the radio. He watched as the aircraft pulled up in a toss manoeuvre, releasing the bombs as she went. The bombs flew towards the target, guided by the commando's laser designator. The building never stood a chance. The bombs penetrated the concrete bunker and destroyed it completely.

The SAM site exploded with a satisfying explosion and Cornelia watched with satisfaction. While Will and Taranee were carrying the LGB's (Laser Guided Bombs) to target, She and Irma had been tasked to destroy the anti-aircraft defences around the target. So far, they'd only encountered a couple of Patriot batteries, which would normally deter low-level attackers like Will and Taranee. But not when they had a couple of SEAD aircraft accompanying them. The SAM sites hadn't stood a chance against their Kh-27 missiles.

"Heart to all fighters. Time to go home guys."

Turning their fighters to rejoin Will and Taranee, they headed for home.

000000000000000000000000000000

"Remind me Sarge. Why were we even needed here?" one of Caleb's men asked.

"Because the only way this place can be painted is from the ground." Replied Caleb with exasperation.

00000000000000000000000000000

"Heart to Tornado. How did you get out this far?"

"Flower to Tornado. I second that question."

Hay Lin sighed. The Mig 29 didn't have the range for this mission, which is why she'd been left behind.

"Tornado to all curious aircraft. I was able to pursuade a tanker to let me refuel at the frontlines"

"The Colonels not gonna be happy about this is she?" Irma replied. Will just laughed.

"Since when has she been happy?" Will quipped in reply.

AN: Now they're all aces. I'm sorry about the lack of descriptions for the dogfight, but it's late and I'm beginning to slow down.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: If you think I own either of these series, you need to get your head examined. End of discussion.

AN: AWACs stands for Airborne Warning And Control. It's used by most modern air forces to guide and co-ordinate military forces.

AN2: Sorry this chapters late, it was meant to be up last week.

AN3: I accidently put the wrong file up for chapter 8. Sorry but Lieutenant Kaiya Vaisala comes from my Ace Combat fic, The Erusian aces and didn't belong there. Again, my apologies to all my readers.

A woman with long blue-black hair and small, foxlike eyes waited for the guard to finish checking her papers and let her through. She couldn't wait to see what kind of trouble she could dig up on this particular woman. Of course, if there wasn't anything to make this assignment more interesting, she could always make it more interesting. After all, that's what reporter Courtney Grumper did best.

Will stared at the blank sheet of paper and sighed. She was trying to write a letter home, but she just couldn't concentrate. Her mind kept wondering back to that damn commando Caleb. He'd paid them all a visit the day after he got back and Will had managed to get talking to him. Cornelia had been on patrol with Irma at the time, so it seemed less awkward to approach him and they got talking. Then, as he left, he gave her a quick and unexpected kiss. That had been one hell of a surprise.

The trouble is that now she had difficulty focusing on her letter. After another fruitless fifteen minutes of staring at the sheet of paper, she decided to leave it for later and she headed for the pilot's lounge.

"Hi there, I'm looking for a Lieutenant Will Vandom. Do you know where I might find her?" Courtney asked a tall redhead who had just entered the room. The redhead raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah I know where she is. Why do you want to know?" she replied coldly.

"Well I'm supposed to be writing a report on how the daughter of the infamous Susan Vandom is living up to her parents reputation. With eleven confirmed kills, everybody wants to know if she'll beat her mothers score of forty-two kills. Would you be willing to talk to me about her, y'know spill any gossip you've heard about her…" Courtney's voice trailed off as she saw the murderous expression on the redheads face.

"There are five aces in this squadron, all of them come from my flight." She paused and pointed to the scoreboard hanging on the wall of the lounge.

"The youngest member of our flight, Lieutenant Hay Lin, has sixteen confirmed kills and three probables." She pointed to the next one along "Lieutenant Cornelia Hale has ten confirmed kills, one half kill and one quarter of a kill. The pilot she shares that half kill with, an Ensign Irma Lair has eight confirmed kills, one half kill and one quarter of a kill. Lieutenant Taranee Cook, who I've known since middle school, has ten confirmed kills and one quarter of a kill."

She paused and pointed at herself "And of course there's me, Lieutenant Will Vandom, with eleven kills as you so eloquently pointed out and quarter of a kill. Now get out of my sight."

Courtney briefly considered trying to talk her way out of this situation, before deciding that would be a bad idea. The look on Will Vandom's face was far from pleasant and Courtney's survival instincts kicked in and promptly suggested that she leave ASAP. But Courtney Grumper was far from finished.

"Courtney Grumper, what are YOU doing here?" asked Irma as she walked into the pilots lounge, still wearing her flightsuit. Courtney groaned inwardly. Of all the people she could've run into, it had to be her old enemy, Irma Lair.

"For once Irma, you're asking an intelligent question." Added Cornelia, both of them were looking at Courtney like she was something unpleasant.

"Wait a minute, you know this person?" Will asked in a surprised tone of voice.

"Courtney? Yeah we know her" began Irma.

"It's rather like knowing leprosy." Cornelia added.

"She and her sister likes to create trouble." Irma finished. Will just shook her head. It was a little freaky when those two started filling in each other's sentences. Courtney on the other hand, took the opportunity to flee.

"And don't come back!" Irma yelled after her.

"So, did anything happen on patrol?" Will asked curiously. Cornelia shook her head.

"Someone got to tangle with a group of F/A 18 Hornets, but not us. According to our AWACs, it was just out of our area and by the time we would've gotten there, it wouldn't have made any difference."

"Taranee and Hay Lin have just gone up. Maybe they'll find some trade." Irma added hopefully. "Anyway, we need to get on with the debriefing."

"Sod it" Will snapped "I'm going up on my own, see if I can't find anything. If nothing else, it'll clear my head."

Twenty minutes later, her plane shot down the runway and climbed into the sky.

00000000000000000000000000000

Fifteen minutes into her flight, Will's mind began to wonder back to Caleb. As she kept looking round, she kept wondering if he liked her the same way. That kiss had to mean something after all? Stop it! She snapped to herself. I'm a grown woman, not some hormonal teenager. Before her mind could drift any further, a call from the AWACs came over the radio.

"This is AWACs Oka Nieba to Heart. There's an Osean U2 spyplane near you on course 070 by 038, that's been forced to come down to 20,000 feet, possibly due to missile damage. Bring it down."

"This is Heart. I'm on my way"

Pulling her fighter upwards Will soon spotted the distinct shape of an Osean U2. Locking an R-77 missile onto it, she fired. She watched as the missile tore the spyplane out of the sky. She even felt a little sorry for the pilot. After all, a U2 spyplane was a high altitude reconnaissance plane that used its high operating ceiling to avoid fighters like her. Their part of the frontlines was fairly quiet at the moment. The Oseans maintained fighter patrols, but neither side had engaged in offensive operations for the past few days. However, that was going to change rather rapidly for Will and her squadron.

00000000000000000000000000000000000

The first clue that Will received about the change in pace was when she landed and saw six Tu-22M3 Backfires sitting beside the runway. Bombers tended to go to Vasry airbase, two miles north of Cavigor. Still, she thought nothing of it as she stepped out of her plane and headed towards the pilot's lounge.

As Will headed for the lounge, Irma crashed into her and they both ended up in a heap.

"I was never here." Irma whispered to her, before dashing off. Puzzled, Will got to her feet. Surely Irma hadn't managed to annoy Colonel Nerissa that badly or for that matter Cornelia.

"Where are you my little Irma-kins?" a voice cried out. Will raised an eyebrow. A tall, skinny man with thick coke bottle glasses came round the corner.

"Hi there!" The man said cheerfully. "I'm Dr Mar…"

"Martin, right?" Will cut in. Martin's face lit up.

"That's right. However did you know?"

"Call it a lucky guess." Will replied with a smile on her face. "So' I guess you're looking for Irma, right?"

"That's right" Martin replied, a blush coming to his cheeks.

"Haven't seen her. Sorry."

Martin looked crestfallen. "Well, if you see her, can you tell her that I'm looking for her."

Will gave him an encouraging smile. "Will do. Good luck finding her."

About ten seconds after he left, Irma returned. Looking around nervously, she turned to face Will.

"Is he gone?" Irma asked nervously.

Will sighed. "Yes he's gone. Why don't you tell him you're not interested?"

"I did. But someone told him that comment I made about you falling for one of those commando's and about Caleb, so now he thinks he's in with a chance. Wish I knew who told him."

"You really don't need to think to hard about that one Irma." A voice said from behind Will. "After that little prank you pulled on me earlier, I think I'm entitled to a little revenge."

"Corny, you know I didn't expect Will to fall for your ex!" she paused. "I didn't even think she'd meet your ex!"

Will suppressed the urge to smile.

"Well next time Irma, save your pranks for the Colonel." Cornelia growled.

"Oh Ir-ma, where are youuuuuu?" they heard Martin's nasal voice. Irma disappeared so fast, Will could've sworn she teleported.

Colonel Nerissa's voice cut in over the station intercom.

"All pilot report to the briefing room immediately."

Will looked at Cornelia. "Guess we'd better go then."

00000000000000000000000

Twenty minutes later.

Taranee looked at the formation of six Tu 22M3 Backfires flying beside them. Dr Martin Tubbs weapon sounded like the stuff of science fiction. Then again, giant laser cannons like the Belkan weapon Excalibur, destroyed in 1995 during the Belkan war, sounded like the stuff of science fiction.

In theory, the weapon pods attached to each bomber would allow them to fire a Stonehenge type shot. Nor would the shot need time and distance to gain momentum. A weapon like that could turn the tide of the war in their favour, as Stonehenge did for Erusia five or six years ago. Taranee chuckled to herself. Stonehenge didn't stop the Erusian's losing the war. One of the Backfires moved to the front of the assembled aircraft. She heard Dr Tubbs voice over the radio.

"This is Hedge One. We will be firing in ten seconds. All escort fighters move behind the bomber."

"This is Heart. Roger that. Guardian flight, form up on me."

"This is Bluewing. Protector flight form up on me."

"This is Zanbato. Farstrike flight form up on me."

With a quick glance around, Taranee saw everyone forming up on their respective flight leads.

"This is Hedge One. Firing now."

There was a brief flash of light and the bomber exploded as a shock wave tore it apart. Will was the first to recover.

"This is Heart to all aircraft. Does anyone have any idea what the hell just happened?"

Her voice sounded shaky, as though she couldn't believe what she had just seen.

"No idea Heart. Did anyone get out?" Irma replied, her voice sounding strained. Three white parachutes appeared.

"Almost everyone Osprey. But right now we've got bigger problems. A squadron of F/A 18 Hornets are inbound, probably coming to investigate." Cornelia replied.

At that point, their training kicked in. After the opening volley of BVR missiles in both directions, R-77's from them and AIM 120 AMRAAM's from their opponents, in which four of the Osean Hornets and six of their Flankers went down, the two sides clashed and the dogfight began in earnest.

Will jerked her fighter into a hard turn, releasing flares as she went. As the Osean sidewinder missile lost track, she turned her fighter towards her opponent and fired an R-73 missile towards his nose. As he jerked his fighter upwards, her cannon fired into his exposed belly and tore his fighter from the sky. As she broke away, she locked a second missile onto another Hornet, who appeared to be so engrossed in chasing the lead plane of Farstrike flight, that he didn't see her. Firing the missile, she tore the enemy plane from the sky.

Irma threw her plane about like a madwoman. Spinning round, she knocked one of the Hornets out of the sky with her cannon as he flew past the plane he had just bagged. Turning her head to her left, she locked an R-73 missile onto another Hornet and the missile rolled off her wing and blew it apart. She bagged a third kill as a Hornet flew across her nose, straight into her gunsights.

Taranee was in trouble. She desperately jerked her fighter about, twisting and turning in a desperate attempt to escape the Hornet behind her. Fortunately for her, he was out of missiles, but his cannon shots were becoming increasingly more accurate. Then she remembered something she'd read about, about a pilot in the same situation as she was right now.

Pushing her nose downwards, she began to spin. The Osean pilot obviously thought he'd got her as he stopped shooting at her. At 5000 feet, she straightened out and pulled up. With two R-73 missiles, she destroyed two Hornets in short order, catching them by surprise. The pilot who'd been chasing her earlier turned to face her, a look of amusement on his face. As they turned to face each other though, a missile from Cornelia's fighter tore into him.

"Thanks Flower." Taranee said quietly over the radio.

Cornelia was facing three enemy fighters. No matter where she turned, one of them was going to get her. One of her turns allowed her to get a shot at the Hornet Taranee was fighting, but Cornelia knew she needed help. It arrived in the shape of Will, her R-73 missiles tearing two of the enemy fighters from the sky. As the remaining enemy fighter turned to face this new threat, Cornelia was able to get a good missile shot at him, tearing his plane from the sky.

Hay Lin's aircraft danced around the sky, nimbly twisting and turning around the enemy fighters. But as the first missile tore off from her wing, her right engine died and suddenly, Hay Lin's plane went from being a highly capable fighter, to being a sluggish and difficult to fly warbird. Sensing weakness, an enemy fighter dived on her, cannon blazing. Luckily for her, Irma bounced him and used her cannon to bring him down.

As both sides separated from each other, Will looked at Hay Lins smoking fighter. It was still flying and still airworthy, but her engine should've failed like that. She swore to herself to tear into the maintenance chief for her flight when she landed. Yes a Sergeant Uriah Dunn was going to get an earful from her.

AN: I'm sorry if the chapter is of variable quality, I've been using it to drill through a bad case of writers block (And it worked as well)


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: If you've got this far, you know the drill.

AN: I've been a little lazy and written out the manoeuvres they're performing, rather than describe them. The descriptions I've got from my World Aircraft information files (a magazine of sorts) they are listed below.

Low yo-yo: In a low yo-yo manoeuvre the attacking pilot rolls upside down and dives across the enemies turning circle.

Counter yo-yo: As the attacker dives down to cut across, the defender pulls up and rolls in the opposite direction. When the defender pulls level, he/she will be facing the attacker.

AN2: Sorry about the delay, I've gotten a sudden rush of plot bunnies.

The scissors: In the scissors manoeuvre, each pilot will be attempting to slow the velocity of the others aircraft in a certain direction. The victor will the one with the best timing and technique. . This manoeuvre will be repeated a few times before the aircraft have to break due to their airspeeds having fallen dramatically.

As Will headed towards the main maintenance hanger, she tried to calm herself down a little before she stormed in and tore Uriah off a strip. Mistakes in maintenance could cost pilots their lives in combat and Will had no intention of allowing one of her girls get killed because a mechanic decided he wanted to slack off.

Just as Will was about to step in though, she paused for a moment as she heard a tirade come from inside the building that sounded as though it could strip paint off a fighter at thirty miles up. She paused to listen curiously to the speaker as she gave Uriah and his crew the mother of all dressing-downs. As soon as the mysterious speaker finished, Will opened the hanger door to deal with Uriah and promptly collided with Hay Lin.

"Oh hiya Will!" Hay Lin exclaimed cheerfully. "Thanks for saving my skin up there."

"Err, was that you I heard just then?" Will asked, slightly apprehensively.

Hay Lin blushed. "Well yeah it was me." she replied with some apprehension.

"I'm impressed." Will said with a grin. "I didn't know you had it in you."

Hay Lin blushed again. Will waved her goodbye and entered the hanger to tear Uriah off a strip.

000000000000000000000000000000

"And so I hear someone giving that idiot Uriah a real sandblasting and you'll never believe who it was." Will told Caleb.

"Surprise me then. Who was it exactly?" Caleb asked curiously.

"Only Hay Lin of all people." Caleb stared at Will sceptically.

"The small, cheery one? Irma's oldest friend?" He asked.

"The one and only. Seriously, I'm amazed she's even capable of being that angry, you know what she's like." Will replied, before continuing "When I went in to say my piece, Uriah looked like he'd been hit by an express train."

Caleb laughed. The evening was going smoothly, their date better than he'd planned. First they'd seen a movie and now they were going for a meal. He couldn't tell you much about the movie, he'd spent most of it focusing on Will as they repeatedly kissed each other with ever increasing passion.

000000000000000000000000000000

Irma let out a sigh of relief as she watched Martin disembark from the rescue helicopter. Martin may have been the bane of her existence, but he was still her friend and she did care about him, although not in the same way he felt about her.

"Hey, you ok?" She asked him.

Martin nodded in reply. "I don't know what went wrong, I really don't. And now someone has died because I was wrong. Our navigator didn't make it out of the bomber"

Irma smiled at him. "You'll get it right next time, I'm sure of it"

Martin gave her a sad little smile. "Hope so." He replied.

000000000000000000000000000000

"Have you heard the latest?" Irma asked no one in particular.

"Latest what Irmy?" Cornelia answered from behind a newspaper.

"Latest news, my blond bimbo friend, latest news." Irma shot back.

"What is it that has your hyperactive little mind has for us this time?" Cornelia asked sarcastically as she lowered her paper. Irma ignored her and continued speaking.

"We're getting Terminators! As in Su-37's!"

Everyone sat up at this announcement.

"What makes you so sure?" Taranee asked suspiciously.

"I heard the Colonel talking about it to her secretary. Apparently' they're due to arrive tomorrow." Answered Irma.

"The terminators only an improved version of our Flankers. I'd rather be getting some Su 47 Berkut's." Cornelia countered, but you could tell from her voice that she too was looking forward to flying a new fighter.

"Hey where's Hay Lin?" Irma asked as she looked around the room.

"Erich arrived to take her out a few minutes ago" Cornelia replied, with a smug grin on her face.

000000000000000000000000

By the time Colonel Nerissa called them into the briefing room, almost everyone on the squadron knew about the new fighters and the rumours had already started to fly.

"Good evening Ladies and gentlemen. I have some good news for you. As of 08:00 hours tomorrow, we will be receiving new fighters. We will spend the next few days acclimatising to our new Su-37's. Understood?" Colonel Nerissa said to them. Everyone in the room gave her an affirmative.

"See, I told you we were getting new fighters, didn't I?" Irma bragged to Cornelia. Cornelia rolled her eyes.

"Yes you did. Proving that even you get it right sometimes." Cornelia replied in exasperation.

"Ha! You just hate the fact that I'm right, don't ya?" Irma shot back with a grin forming on her face.

Before Cornelia could reply, Hay Lin cut in. "You lot are getting new aircraft, I'm not. Because I was tagged onto the squadron, there are only enough Terminators for you lot. Good thing too as Sukhoi's feel heavy to me."

"Isn't that cute? Little Hay likes her short-legged Fulcrum over our shiny new Terminators." Irma said as she grabbed Hay Lin and they began to mock wrestle each other. Cornelia just grinned at them.

Meanwhile Taranee and Will were having a conversation of their own.

"So what do you think about our new fighters Will?" Taranee asked as they headed for the pilots lounge.

"Well I'm hoping that they'll keep us alive on the battlefield. That's what matters."

"Indeed. So how did your date with Caleb last night go?" Taranee asked. Will's face lit up.

"Really well! In fact I'm seeing him again tomorrow." Will replied enthusiastically.

Taranee grinned to herself at Will's expression. Her friend had got it bad and although she didn't know Caleb, you'd have to be blind not to see the way he felt about her.

00000000000000000000000000000

Will's squadron was in the air when the attack came.

"This is Oka Nieba to Farstrike, Protector and Guardian flights. An enemy attack is underway in the northern region of the Jilachi desert. Your purpose is to shoot down the incoming Osean bombers. Turn to co-ordinates 157396"

Twelve Su-37 Terminators and one Mig 29 Fulcrum turned as one. For Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin, it would prove to be a date with destiny.

0000000000000000000000000000000

Approaching the enemy at full throttle, Will locked her four R-77's onto the Osean bombers, preferring her chances of hitting them, rather than their escorts. As Will and the others released their missiles, the Osean escort fighter, F/A-18E Super Hornets, did the same, firing their AIM 120 AMRAAM's at the same time. The squadron scattered, but a few were too slow and were destroyed. Then the two sides moved in closer and the dogfight began.

Will and Taranee circled around the enemy squadron leader. Their missiles expended, all three combatants were reduced to using their cannon.

Whoever he was, he was very good. Despite the fact that there were two of them against him, he was a match for them. Twisting his plane upwards, he quickly pulled himself into a turn and would have dived on Will, had she not flipped her fighter over and pulled her nose towards the ground. Taranee pulled her fighter round into a very tight turn and fired at the enemy fighter, damaging his nose, but he pulled his plane upwards before she could inflict any serious damage.

Taking advantage of his climb. Will pulled the nose of her fighter up behind him, only for him to corkscrew out of the way of her cannon and strafe her wing on the way down. Taranee dived after him. But just as she lined up her sights, he slowed down, causing her to overshoot him. His cannon strafed Taranee's fighter, but before he could bring her down, Taranee violently twisted her fighter upwards and out of the line of fire. As she passed his fighter, she could see the name Blaze written on the side of his aircraft and felt a shiver go up her spine. This man was the leader of the Osean fighter squadron that everyone called the Demons of Razgriz. No wonder he was so good.

Irma's body was pinned to her seat as she twisted her fighter into a counter yo-yo manoeuvre, in response to her opponents low yo-yo manoeuvre. Neither of them had any missiles, having fired them against one another with no success. Facing each other, the two fighters began firing their cannon at each other, a collision seemed imminent. At the last moment, they both turned and passed each other, avoiding a crash by mere inches. As they passed each other, she caught a glimpse of the callsign of her opponent. The name was Edge.

Cornelia twisted her fighter into a hard break as her opponent pulled his fighter into a dive after her. At ultra low level, the two fighters twisted and turned in, each one trying to gain the advantage in the scissors manoeuvre, break and counter break, neither side coming out with the necessary advantage. After a few minutes they were forced to break apart, their planes almost stalling. And when you're less than 200 metres above the ground, stalling is a very bad idea. As she pulled away from her enemy, she saw his callsign painted on its nose. The callsign was Chopper.

Hay Lin and her opponent danced around each other with such precision and grace, you could be forgiven for thinking that you were watching an aerobatics display. Twisting and turning around each other, neither one of them could gain the upper hand, but as she passed next to him she was able to read his callsign written on the side of his plane. The callsign was Archer.

Fifteen minutes later, both sides broke away from the fight, their fuel almost exhausted. In those fifteen minutes, a deep respect for each other had been born, despite them being enemies, both sides had come to respect each other.

AN: I've deviated from the game canon in this chapter. By having W.I.T.C.H hold their own against the player character and his allies, I'm setting things up for the future.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H or Ace Combat. If I did, then the W.I.T.C.H comics would still be printed over here. (Sighs in annoyance) And they'd be up to date.

AN: I can't actually remember precisely what rank the player has achieved at this stage in the game, so I've stuck with the one I remember and I hope it isn't far off.

Will paced the pilots lounge nervously and checked her watch yet again.

"Will, stop it ok?" Taranee snapped, looking up from the book she was reading.

"We have an interview with the press on how we managed to tie up the Razgriz, T. How can you be so CALM!" Will yelled back.

"By not thinking about it. Or at least trying not too. Which is made all the more difficult by your damn pacing!" Taranee shot back.

"Umm, what are you reading Taranee?" Hay Lin cut in, sensing an argument coming. It seemed to work.

"It's a biography of Mobius One Hay." She answered with a smile coming to her face. Will felt herself calm down as well.

"Sorry T, guess I'm just a little edgy over this interview." Will said apologetically. Taranee let out a laugh.

"Think we're all a little on edge here." Taranee replied. "But where's Cornelia and Irma. I can't imagine anything getting Cornelia ruffled and Irma would probably be practically bouncing off the walls to be interviewed."

"Irma's checking her plane and Cornelia's busy prepping her hair and make-up." Hay Lin replied calmly. Will and Taranee raised their eyebrows. "Irma said that she wanted something to keep her mind off the fact that we're about to become celebrities."

"I REALLY DON'T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT!" Taranee snapped at Hay Lin.

"Sorry!" Hay Lin answered with her hands up.

"Hello Will, we meet again." A familiar voice cut in. Hay Lin's head snapped round so fast it actually clicked. Will merely frowned at the voices owner, a woman with a bowl cut hairstyle and black hair. Beside the woman was another woman with an identical hairstyle and looked like a smaller version of the first.

"Courtney and Bess Grumper." Hay Lin stated coldly. "What are you doing here?"

"We're here to interview the heroes who were able to go toe to toe with the infamous Razgriz." Courtney began in a pseudo sweet voice.

"Your squadron leader thought it would be good for the folks back home." Bess finished.

"After all, who else can say they went toe to toe with the Razgriz and won?" Courtney added, a malicious grin forming on her face.

"Or at least managed to hold their own." Bess added, an identical grin forming on her face.

"You know Will, I feel we got off to a bad start Will." Courtney began. "Can we start over?"

Will frowned. Then Hay Lin cut in.

"When it comes to you two, keeping as far away as possible is what I'd recommend." Hay Lin said acidly.

"Perhaps your boyfriend should've been on the Kashin, the second Hrinfaxi class sub. Maybe you'd have gone to their rescue as well." Hay Lin went very pale. Everyone knew that there had been no survivors when the Razgriz had sunk the second Hrinfaxi class submarine in the Northern straights.

"And you should watch your mouth." Irma snapped as she entered the room.

"Still as nasty as ever I see." Cornelia added with a growl.

"Cornelia, Irma, I'm only here for the interview, I'm sure we can at least get that done." Courtney asked plaintively. Seeing the murderous looks on the others faces, she continued. "At least let us finish here, the Colonel will insist on it." Will nodded. Taking a seat, Courtney asked her first question and the interview began.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Are you sure they'll be there tomorrow?" Lord Cedric asked into the telephone.

"Yes I'm sure. Make sure you're there." A mans voice replied.

"We'll be there." Cedric growled back. Putting the phone down, he began to draw up the plans for tomorrow's ambush on the Razgriz. Little did he know that five girls were going to mess up his plans in a way that he could not have predicted.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The following day

Lieutenant Miranda Spiderwell, callsign Black Widow shot down the runway and felt her plane become airborne. She felt herself grin as her squadron turned towards their destination. Bringing down the Razgriz would be a pleasure, especially after the humiliating defeat they inflicted on her squadron earlier in the war. Little did she know that fate was about to throw her plans for revenge firmly out of the window.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000

Will's aircraft turned towards the Osean frontlines and accelerated towards them. Following her, the other members of her flight joined her. The interview had been…difficult to say the least. The Grumper sisters had done their homework on the girls and on more than one occasion had thrown in hints that Cornelia and Taranee had only held their own because they were in fact Osean spies. Will had never been so glad to see Colonel Nerissa ordering them into the briefing room for today's mission.

It was a simple escort mission. The five of them were to meet up with a group of An-12 Cubs and escort them and their valuable cargo to Cruik fortress. Climbing to twelve thousand feet, Will saw the aircraft in question.

"Heart to Tooth Fairy, Guardian flight will be taking position to your port side. Protector flight will be covering your starboard side. Farstrike will be flying ahead of you." Will called over to the squadron of Cubs.

"Tooth Fairy acknowledges Heart. Lead the way." The leader of the Cubs replied.

Will looked out of her cockpit window over at the transport planes beside her. The An-12 Cub was a high wing transport plane with four propeller driven engines. As a tactical airlift transport, it was second to none, but it was nowhere near as fast as the planes she and her friends were flying.

A voice called out to her over the radio.

"Guardian flight this is AWACs Oka Nieba. I have a new set of orders for you. Cruik fortress has fallen to the Osean forces. Your flight is to take up a combat air patrol to cover the retreating ground forces. Farstrike and Protector flights are to escort the An-12 Cubs back to base."

Will cursed under her breath. With Cruik fortress gone, the Osean forces had a clear road to the capital city Cinigrad.

"Oka Nieba, this is Heart. I acknowledge your orders. Heading towards the co-ordinates now."

With that statement, all five members of Guardian flight turned and headed towards the new co-ordinates.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Captain Matthew Wilson, callsign Blaze brought his F/A-18E Super Hornet into a level flight and looked at his fuel gauge. Although he had just enough fuel to get back, he would be really pushing it. Then he heard his AWACs over the radio.

"Wardog squadron, this is Thunderhead. Fly to the tanker for air refuelling. There is an allied squadron to the east of your position. They'll guide you to the tanker for air refuelling." Thunderhead paused and Blaze wondered to himself, not for the first time, how that idiot Colonel Oliver 'Thunderhead' Mills had ever made the rank of Colonel, let alone be appointed in charge of a squadrons AWACs. "Good work people. We're one step away from the enemy's capital. We can win this as long as you're with us. I can feel it."

Blaze mentally chuckled to himself. Thunderhead was notoriously mean with his compliments. In fact it was rumoured that he couldn't say something good about someone even if he tried. Blaze could hear Nagase and Grim talking over the radio. Those two he considered something of an enigma to say the least. Neither Nagase, nor Grim seemed suited to military service, their almost pacifist views were out of place on a fighter squadron. Still, they got the job done and they did it well, so he let them speak freely. Besides, Blaze reflected to himself, given all the hard work we've done, we've earned the right to let off steam. A voice cut into their conversation over the radio.

"Wardog, this is the 8492nd squadron. Can you see us? It would be an honour for us to escort you heroes. Let's go home."

Blaze spotted the squadron of F-15 Actives in front and acknowledged. 8492, 8492, 8492, why did that name sound so familiar? He was still pondering it to himself when suddenly his radar went haywire as a powerful jamming signal kicked in and the F-15 Actives fired their AIM-120 AMRAAM's at him and his flight. Breaking hard, he released a cloud of chaff behind him and the missiles missed.

"The 8492nd squadron doesn't exist!" Nagase yelled out over the radio as it all slid into place.

Looking up, Blaze spotted some fifteen enemy planes climb up to meet him and his radar was showing another twenty aircraft at least. Although he knew that the majority of the blips were radar 'ghosts', planes that weren't really there and under normal circumstances his flight would have probably been able to get out of this mess. But his flight was on its way back from a difficult mission and their planes were in desperate need of refuelling and re-arming. Turning his plane upwards, Matthew Wilson callsign Blaze turned to engage the enemy planes, determined to give his pilots a chance to get away.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

As Will and the others arrived at their new co-ordinates, Oka Nieba called them once more.

"Heart this is AWACs Oka Nieba. There is an unusual jamming field to the west of your position. I'm sending you to investigate."

"Roger Oka Nieba. On our way now." Will replied.

"Y'know he really ought to make up his mind where he wants us to go." Irma complained. "Even blondezilla doesn't change her mind as often as he does."

"Oh come on off it Osprey. It's not like he does this all the time." Cornelia retorted.

"Guys, now isn't the time." Will cut in. "We need to focus on the task at hand."

"Besides, it's not like you don't spend almost all your time on the ground arguing anyway." Taranee added in a slightly annoyed tone of voice.

Coming up on the on the new co-ordinates, Will and the others were greeted by the sight of three Osean air force F/A-18E Super Hornets desperately trying to avoid being shot down by at least two squadrons of Osean F-15 Actives and another squadron of Su-37 Terminators. Unsure of how to continue, Will decided to call Oka Nieba for more instructions.

"Oka Nieba, this is Heart. Do we have any special ops squadrons in the area?"

"Negative Heart. Why do you ask?" Oka Nieba replied. But before Will could reply her radio suddenly turned to static and the Su-37 Terminators turned towards them and fired their missiles. Will, Irma Taranee and Hay Lin broke hard, releasing chaff in their wake. Cornelia, caught off guard, broke a fraction of a second too late and the missile exploded right next to her plane, near the cockpit.

"Cornelia!" Irma screamed out as they watched her plane spin towards the ground. With a growl, Irma turned her plane towards the hostile Su-37's and accelerated towards them, missiles firing.

"Heart to all fighters. Engage the hostiles." Will growled over the radio. Turning as one, Will, Taranee and Hay Lin followed Irma straight into the battle.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Lord Cedric Heath, callsign Cobra turned his F-15 Active hard and fired his cannon at the Razgriz leader Matthew Wilson, callsign Blaze. Blaze flipped his fighter at the last minute, causing Cedric's cannon shells to fly just under his chin. Another two members of Cedric's squadron were attacking from another two separate angles, but somehow Blaze was able to avoid their attacks with manoeuvres that didn't seem possible.

As Cedric started to turn his F-15 Active in a bid to prepare for another attack on the Razgriz leader an R-77 missile smashed into his plane and another two hit his two wingmen. Ejecting from his fighter, Cedric spotted the plane that had fired the missile fly past. An Su-37 Terminator with a heart painted on the nose. Cedric growled to himself as he floated down. Whoever this pilot was, he or she was going to pay for this.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Irma jerked up the nose of her fighter hard and spun her aircraft round in a tight spin, releasing flares as she went. The R-73 missile that the hostile Su-37 Terminator had fired at her flew after the flares and Irma breathed a sigh of relief.

Twisting her plane around, she locked her own R-73 missile onto another hostile fighter to the right of her and fired. Less than forty seconds later, the enemy plane exploded in a ball of flame. As Irma turned her plane to engage the fighter that had attacked her, one of the Osean F/A-18 Hornets that they'd saved dived over her plane and tore the hostile fighter apart with its cannon. Pulling up alongside her, the pilot gave her a thumbs up sign.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Taranee flipped her plane over and cannon fire from one of the F-15 Actives skimmed under her chin. Another Active pulled up across her nose as he chased one of the F/A-18E Super Hornets. Firing her cannon, she tore the F-15 Active apart and flew through the fireball. As she emerged, she spotted one of the E-767 jammer aircraft in front of her. Locking two R-77 missiles onto the aircraft, Taranee fired and tore the jamming aircraft apart.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Pull up, pull up, pull up" the electronic voice of Cornelia's fly-by-wire system chanted at her as her plane came ever closer to the ground. Groggily regaining consciousness, Cornelia's windscreen was filled by the sight of the ground heading towards her. Pulling her joystick back, Cornelia's uniform became soaked in blood as the g-forces she was experiencing forced a huge surge of pressure on her shoulder. Looking at her shoulder Cornelia saw a fragment of a missile sitting in her shoulder.

Barely conscious, Cornelia registered that she was heading straight for an E-767 jamming aircraft. Locking on an R-77 missile, she fired. The missile hit the 767's inner right wing engine and sent the huge aircraft spinning out of the sky.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Hay Lin fired two R-77 missiles head on at the approaching F-15 Actives. She watched with satisfaction as the missiles hit their targets and destroyed the incoming enemy fighters. Then she was attacked by one of the Su-37's, charging in and firing it's own R-77 missiles at her.

Twisting hard, Hay Lin released a cloud of chaff behind her. Turning into a tight turn, she fired an R-73 at the offender, only to see it thrown off as the Terminator pulled a very tight turn, releasing flares in her wake.

Blasting another Active out of the sky with another R-73, Hay Lin turned hard as the Su-37 fired another missile, this time barely missing her and exploding so close it made Hay Lin's plane shudder.

Immediately in the wake of the missile the plane charged at her, cannon blazing. Hay Lin twisted her plane round hard and the Su-37 was suddenly facing her side, causing the cannon shells to miss. Deliberately stalling her plane, Hay Lin's fighter slid backwards and as the attacking Su-37 flew past, Hay Lin fired her cannon into the Su-37's exposed belly. Engine aflame, the pilot ejected and floated towards the Earth below.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Lieutenant Miranda Spiderwell glared at the fighter that had just shot her down. A Mig 29M Fulcrum no less, with an insignia on its nose that she recognised.

"I'll get you for this, Hay Lin. You will rue the day you met me." She growled under her breath.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Captain Matthew Wilson, callsign Blaze watched as the Belkans jamming cleared from his radar and radio. With their jammers gone the remaining Belkan fighters left the battlefield. Without their radar 'ghosts' they obviously didn't want to hang around. Pulling his fighter up alongside the plane of his rescuer, he pulled out a torch and flashed a message across to the other aircraft in Morse code.

"Switch to frequency 194." He flashed over, hoping that the Yuke pilot knew about the old common frequency for the allies during the Belkan war.

"Will do" The Yuke pilot flashed back.

Switching to frequency 194, Blaze decided to introduce himself.

"Hello I'm Captain Matthew Wilson, callsign Blaze." He called over to the Yuke pilot.

"I am Lieutenant Will Vandom." The Yuke pilot replied. "Would you care to explain what's going on?"

"Certainly! It appears that…" and Captain Matthew Wilson, callsign Blaze began to explain.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"So let's get this straight. Belka is behind this war." Irma exclaimed to Will as they came in to land.

"Yes, it appears so." Will replied in an exasperated voice. Irma swore colourfully over the radio.

"Cornelia, you're still with us right?" Will called over to Cornelia's plane, which was trailing smoke.

"Y-y-yes …just about holding up here." Cornelia replied, blood loss making her feel faint.

"Just concentrate on getting her down, Corny." Irma added in a worried voice.

The rest of the flight watched on anxiously as Cornelia's plane touched down on the emergency airfield. As the plane skidded to a halt, emergency vehicles came charging up to her plane, sirens blazing.

"I hope she's ok." Irma said over the radio in a very hushed voice.

"Hey it's Cornelia, of course she'll be ok!" Hay Lin answered, but her voice lacked conviction and they both knew it. Cornelia had lost a lot of blood and it would really be touch and go as to whether or not she survived. As they turned towards their base, Will silently made a desperate prayer to any deity that would care to listen, that Cornelia would survive. It would be sadly ironic if she died saving a group of pilots who, only a few days earlier were her enemies.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Nerissa growled as she listened to the report coming in from the other end of the phone. This time Will Vandom and her flight had interrupted in the plans of the Grey Men for the last time!

"Very well, I will deal with them!" she snapped at the person on the other side of the phone. Slamming the phone down, she pressed the station intercom and called Sergeant Vathek into her office. Yes, Will Vandom and her little friends would regret their interference.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Will knew there was something wrong when she stepped out of her aircraft to the sight of Sergeant Vathek and his men facing her with grim faces.

"Lieutenant Will Vandom, Ensign Irma Lair, Lieutenant Taranee Cook and Lieutenant Hay Lin. I am under orders to arrest you for treason." He told her grimly. As Will and the others were handcuffed and lead away (violently in Taranee's case.), Will saw Vathek give her a small wink and smile. Hoping she hadn't imagined it, Will and the others were dragged off to the bases detention centre.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sergeant Vathek dived into an empty storeroom and after checking he was alone, pulled out his mobile phone and dialled Caleb's number. As Caleb answered his phone, Vathek began to talk.

"Caleb? It's Vathek here. We need to talk."

AN: The sinking of the second Hrinfaxi submarine is one of the missions in the game, for those of you not in the know. This is now the longest chapter I've managed to write. (I think.)


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: If I owned Ace Combat, then you'd be able to fly the Harrier and the Mig 33, the latest incarnation of the Mig 29. I certainly don't own W.I.T.C.H

Caleb's face was grim as he put his phone down. The news from Vathek was…disturbing. According to Vathek, Will and the other were under arrest for treason. Apparently they had attacked a squadron of friendly fighters and had been photographed helping the Osean squadron the Razgriz. On the face of it, it looked bad. It looked Will and the others had at best been involved in a friendly fire incident. At worst, outright treason.

However, there were certain oddities that set Vathek's teeth on edge and made him question the charges.

Firstly, this was Guardian flight and it their combat record spoke for itself. If they truly were traitors, why were they so successful? They stood toe to toe with the best the Osean Air Force had to throw at them and held their own. If they were traitors, why do that?

Secondly, and it was this that really made Vathek uneasy, was a conversation that he heard Colonel Nerissa having over the phone. She'd said something about Will and the others not interfering with their plans and that there was no danger of them ending the war early. That was reason for concern, Vathek thought to himself. He didn't trust Nerissa at all, even if she was his commanding officer.

Vathek knew that had nowhere to take the girls if he got them out, but Caleb on the other hand had connections to the FSB, the Yuktobonian military intelligence service and if anyone could hide them, they could. Vathek had made one request to Caleb though.

"Make sure you don't hurt my men. At least not seriously or fatally. They're innocents in this and I'm responsible for them." Vathek told him over the phone. Caleb didn't really blame him for that. As a leader, he could understand that. Assembling his most trusted men, Caleb turned to them and said.

"I need three volunteers for an extremely dirty operation."

His men exchanged glances. 'Dirty' operations were operations that were officially off the record. Often of dubious legality, anyone getting caught on one of these operations could expect no rescue from the military. Then, as one, all five of them stepped forward. Caleb grinned at them.

"Very well gentlemen, here's the plan…" He began.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Why is Colonel Nerissa doing this?" Will asked out loud as she paced up and down their cell. "THEY attacked us, not the other way round and surely she doesn't want this war to keep going, especially with the Belkans being behind it and everything."

"Perhaps. Or she's involved with the Belkans plans as well." Taranee answered thoughtfully, sitting on the cells bed.

"Why? She's exactly like us. She was one of our highest scoring aces in the Belkan war for crying out loud!" Will shot back.

"Will, I don't get it either, but it's a distinct possibility. A previously trustworthy individual has a change of heart or is turned by a hostile intelligence network into an operative for a hostile power." Taranee replied calmly.

Will raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked quizzically.

"Yes really Will. You've got to admit it's certainly consistent with her behaviour." Taranee insisted.

"Well it would explain why she's chucked us in here." Will conceded. "Switching the subject here, do you think I should say something to Hay Lin and Irma? They've known Cornelia for a long time and if we hadn't stopped to listen to what Blaze had to tell us, well maybe Cornelia's chances of surviving would be better than they are now"

"Will" Taranee began in a commanding voice, "First up, there was no way you could tell how badly she was hurt and secondly, Cornelia isn't dead yet. I'm willing to bet that she's tough enough to pull through."

Irma and Hay Lin meanwhile were in the cell opposite Will and Taranee. Irma was sitting on the cells bed while Hay Lin paced the length of the cell. Even on land, Hay Lin found staying still difficult. But there was no bounce in Hay Lin's step and Irma was looking downcast. Both of them were worried about their friend Cornelia and for good reason. Cornelia had lost a lot of blood from her wound and the doctors had given her a 50/50 chance of survival at best. At least that's what they'd been told by the cell guard. (He'd actually thought he was being kind, by letting them know about their friend.)

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Flight Lieutenant Elyon Brown pulled the joystick of her Mig-25 Foxbat RU and her plane took to the skies once more. Turning her plane towards the Versuan border, she wondered to herself as to why she was flying a reconnaissance mission over Verusia of all places. Surely she should be flying over Osean lines, that was where she'd flown all her previous reconnaissance missions. Still, that FSB Commander Himmerish Oracle had been most insistent that that was where he needed her to go and well it wasn't her job to question her orders.

Turning her aircraft towards her destination, inside Veruasan territory, Elyon opened the throttles on her reconnaissance fighter and accelerated towards her destination, unaware of just how much it was going to change her life.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Lance Corporal Kurt Trewhitt stepped up to the huge six wheeled, tarpaulin covered truck as it pulled up to the airfield gates. There was something he was supposed to ask all arrivals, but he couldn't quiet remember what it was.

"Can I see your papers please?" he asked as he suddenly remembered. . He made a mental note to himself to write that down or something.

Corporal Aldarn Drake looked at the gate security guard and handed over the papers. According to their papers, they were a repair crew for the airfield. (The fact that the airfield didn't need repair work was beside the point. As Caleb had already observed that Kurt was not the sharpest tool in the box by a very long shot.) Glancing over their papers, Kurt handed them back and waved them through. Pushing his foot down gently onto the accelerator, Aldarn drove into the base.

"Ok, we're in." he whispered to Caleb, who was in the back with the rest of the team.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Surprise. That was the first thing Will felt when she saw Caleb walk into the bases prison and taser the guard.

"Caleb!" Will exclaimed as he walked up to her cell and unlocked the door. "What the… How the…?"

"This my dear Lieutenant Vandom is a break out." Caleb told her in a calm voice. "I'll tell you guys about it later. Right now, we need to get you out of here"

"He's right Will. The sooner we get going, the lower our chances of getting caught." Taranee added quietly, while Caleb turned towards Irma and Hay Lin's cell and let them out as well.

Slipping the keys into his pocket, Caleb escorted the girls to the waiting truck, where Aldarn was waiting.

"'Bout time you got here." Aldarn commented laconically as they stepped up into the back. Caleb rolled his eyes. After the last man stepped onto the back, Caleb jumped on and Aldarn started to drive the truck away. Things couldn't have gone any smoother. At least until Colonel Nerissa walked around the corner and spotted Hay Lin in the back of the truck.

Whipping out her pistol, Nerissa started shooting at the truck, yelling

"Stop them!"

As Caleb climbed into the back of the truck, Aldarn hit the accelerator and the truck smashed its way out of Cavigor base as fast as its YaMZ-238 V-8 diesel engine could move it, bullets from over a dozen AK-74Ms crashing after them.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Descending to 1000 feet, Elyon started the cameras running on her aircraft as her objective came into view. Looking at the target, she let out a shocked gasp. Sitting on the airfield was a C-130 Hercules with Osean markings and beside it sat two Su-37 Terminators with the markings of the Yuktobonian airforce on them. And sitting at the end of the runway was two Eurofighter 2000 Typhoons with Belkan crosses on them. What were Belkan fighters doing here? And why were friendly fighters sitting beside an enemy transport plane?

After passing over the airfield, Elyon turned her plane towards home. The two Belkan Eurofighters took off to pursue her.

Elyon's RWR began to beep as the Belkan fighters locked their radar onto her. Climbing to 8000 feet, she grinned and said.

"You'll have to be faster than that guys."

Opening the throttles on her fighter's engines, she watched the needle on her speed gauge swing into the red as she pushed her fighter to over three times the speed of sound. The Belkan fighters were left standing.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"I must say this is highly irregular." Dr Horsberg complained as the Spetsnaz FSB commando handed over the papers transferring the custody of his patient to an FSB facility some twenty miles away. "My patient has barely stabilised and you want to move her?"

"Is it safe to move her?" Luba asked him impatiently. Dr Horsberg nodded. "Don't worry doctor, we'll take good care of her."

Without any further ado, Luba and her team loaded Cornelia onto a medical Mi-8 helicopter and took off. Five minutes later, she was at Candracar airbase and in the hands of the highly capable medical team there.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

As Elyon's plane re-entered Yuktobonian airspace, her radio crackled to life.

"Princess, change course and head for Candracar airbase immediately."

"Princess acknowledges. Changing course now." She replied calmly, but her mind was spinning with questions. What she had seen today was churning through her mind. When she landed, Elyon swore to herself, she was going to demand some answers off of this Oracle guy. Lowering her wheels she landed at Candracar airbase.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

As soon as they were clear of Cavigor, Aldarn pulled the truck over into a hidden side road and parked the truck.

"Ok, you said you'd explain, so now we're not on the run, explain." Will demanded to Caleb.

"Ok, ok." Caleb said as he held his hands up in a mock surrender position. "Well Sergeant Vathek called me after he had to arrest you. Seems there were some…irregularities with the charges against you. Anyway, he called me and we arranged your jailbreak. Now it's your turn to talk. Why did you fire on friendly fighters? Why were you pictured fighting alongside enemy planes?"

"Those 'friendlies' were enemy planes and they were the ones who fired on us first!" Will exclaimed angrily. "And those 'enemy' planes were on OUR side! Listen, there's something I need to tell you…"

Caleb and his men listened as Will and the others explained the facts. About how the Belkans were behind the war between Osea and Yuktobonia and how both W.I.T.C.H flight and the Razgriz had discovered the truth.

0000000000000000000000000000

Elyon stormed into the debriefing room, determined to get some answers from Commander Oracle, when suddenly she saw a young woman who she knew very well. Suddenly robbed of her ability to speak, Elyon charged over to Cornelia's unconscious form.

"Cornelia!" Elyon exclaimed worriedly as she rushed up to her friend's side. One of the attendants gently moved Elyon aside.

"Ma'am can you please step aside, we need to get our patient into the hospital wing." He told her calmly, but authoritatively.

"But.." Elyon began, but he cut her off.

"She's going to be ok, but she's lost a lot of blood, so until she wakes up, we need to get her into the hospital wing."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Caleb's mobile rang and with some reluctance he picked it up. He was still processing what Will and the others had just told him and truth be told, every phone call he'd received over the past few days had been bad news and he was reluctant for any more bad news.

"Hello." He said into the phone.

"Hello Sergeant Hart. I need you to bring the rest of Guardian flight to Candracar airbase. I already have Cornelia here and I'd like you to bring in the others." A woman's voice told him.

"Who is this?" Caleb demanded angrily. "And why do you want me to bring the girls to Candracar?"

"Heh, forgive me for not introducing myself sooner. I am Captain Luba Perrin of the Spetsnaz. My squad is the one that's currently got you surrounded." The woman replied and Caleb watched in mute surprise as Spetsnaz troops emerged from the surrounding trees, their guns all pointed at Caleb and the others. Mentally cussing under his breath for forgetting to set up sentries, Caleb raised his arms.

The owner of the mystery voice stepped forward. With long white hair tied up in a bun, piercing blue eyes and a cat-like face, Luba looked coldly at them.

"I sincerely hope you can do better than this." She told them contemptuously "The Belkans will be less forgiving."

"Wait, you know about the Belkans as well!?!" Will asked surprised.

"Yes, thanks to the fact that we bugged Colonel Nerissa's phone. Or rather, the fact that my commanding officer had her phone bugged. Commander Himmerish Oracle has long kept an eye on Colonel Nerissa, but it's only after she had you arrested have we been able to uncover the truth. Believe it or not, we're on your side."

"You need to work on making a better first impression." Caleb grumbled. Luba turned her icy gaze to Caleb.

"I knew that you wouldn't just come if I just asked you. Now shall we get into the truck, or do you feel like staying here all night?"

Muttering and grumbling, they piled into the back of the truck and drove to Candracar airbase.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Sir, do you mind explaining what the hell is going on." Elyon demanded to Commander Himmerish Oracle as soon as she finished the debriefing.

"Of course Lieutenant Elyon. But I ask that you only wait until the others arrive here, I have no desire to repeat myself." Commander Oracle replied in a serene voice.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

As soon as their truck pulled into Candracar airbase, Luba and her squad marched everyone into the main briefing room. However, it was a much happier group that left the truck than the one that had entered it. A major part of this was down to the fact that Luba had told them that Cornelia was going to live.

"Elyon!" Hay Lin and Irma exclaimed excitedly as they recognised their friend.

"Hay Lin! Irma! It's good to see you!" Elyon cried as she hugged her two friends.

"It is good to see you all in the flesh." Oracle said smiling. "Please, sit down, I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, cos y'know it's generally a good idea to tell people and stuff what you want them to do." Irma pointed out sarcastically.

Oracle continued as though Irma hadn't said anything. "For the past six months, I've been investigating a mysterious Belkan group known only as the 'Grey men'. Their point and purpose have been a mystery to me, despite my best efforts to penetrate their secrets. I have, however, been able to discover that they are divided into at least two separate factions. One is lead by Colonel Nerissa." He nodded towards Will and the others. "The other is lead by General Phobos."

As he said these words, a photograph of a tall man, with long straw blonde hair, exactly the same colour and texture of Elyon's. He even had exactly the same eyes. On his chin was a short beard. Elyon let out a small gasp of recognition.

"Lieutenant Brown already knows this man, as she has just demonstrated by her little gasp there." Oracle added calmly gesturing towards her. "He is her biological father. However, ever since he abandoned both his wife and his daughter, she has had no contact with him."

Elyon almost visibly shrank as she tried to avoid the stares of almost everyone in the room.

"Thanks to recent events, I have been able to discover their purpose. The Grey Men exist to extract revenge on the countries that defeated Belka, some fifteen years ago. They are the real reason behind this war. Your flight disrupted their plans when you saved the Razgriz. That is why you were arrested. That is why those 'friendly' fighters attacked you. Now as I've taken up enough of your time, I'm sure you want to see your friend Cornelia." Commander Oracle finished, with a small wave of his hand towards the door.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Cornelia let out a small groan as she slowly opened her eyes. The drugs in her system were making her feel sluggish.

"Corny! You're alright!" Irma cried out as she pulled Cornelia into a tight hug. "You had us really worried you know." And with that statement, Irma did something she hadn't really planned to do. Pulling Cornelia's chin up ever so slightly, Irma pulled Cornelia into a deep and powerful kiss. Cornelia just froze in shock. But as Irma pulled away, Cornelia grabbed Irma around the head and pulled her into a second, more powerful, kiss.

"Finally!" two voices exclaimed from the right side of the bed.

"Y-y-you knew?" Irma asked as she turned to look at Hay Lin and Elyon.

"Please, you two have been hitting on each other for as long as I can remember." Hay Lin said with a smile.

"Besides, we're your best friends. Do you really think we didn't realise what you were feeling for each other, even if neither of you wanted to admit your feelings for one another?" Elyon added.

Cornelia just grinned at Irma's discomfort and pulled her in for another kiss. Just to save her from having to answer that particular question, you understand. It had absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with the fact that she really wanted to taste Irma's lips again.

AN: As you can see, I've made Phobos Elyon's father, instead of her brother, primarily because the age gap between Elyon and Phobos would make the whole brother/sister relationship a biological impossibility. I'm starting on an Open University course, so updates will be slower as a rule, for the time being. (Admittedly work has delayed this one quiet a bit anyway.)


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: The magical Disney fairies have given me the rights to W.I.T.C.H and Ace Combat. Does anyone believe me? No, didn't think so. Although if you did, there's this wonderful online scam going on…

AN: Sorry this ones taken so long to update, the muse has been a little sporadic on this.

"There's something I must warn you about. As a commercial testing facility for Yuktobonian aircraft, we have a lot of pilots from countries with an interest in purchasing Yuktobonian aircraft." The Oracle informed the flight as they assembled in the briefing room. "We are currently host to an Emmerian pilot, Lieutenant Rebecca Rudolph and an Erusian pilot, a Lieutenant Petunia Eccles. As far as they're concerned, you're our newest test pilots"

"What's their callsigns?" Taranee asked. "I don't want to end up giving ourselves away over the radio."

"The Emmerian pilots callsign in Emmeria is Talisman, but out here it's Orube. The Erusian's callsign is Yellow 14." Commander Oracle told them firmly.

"Yellow 14? You mean like the Yellow squadron, the most capable and able Erusian squadron of the Stonehenge conflict? Man, those guys were legendary." Irma asked jumping up excitedly.

"Yeah and they were all shot down by Mobius One, remember?" Will pointed out.

"She's from the same squadron. Her flying skills are not very good though, her appointment a result of her political influences instead of skill." Oracle replied firmly. "Now I will move onto the second reason you're here. Your new aircraft." Oracle pressed a button and a photograph of a twin-engine black aircraft with forward swept wings and a pair of forward tailplanes appeared on the screen. "The newest variant of the Su-47 Berkut."

"Very nice." Irma commented with a smile. "Now all we need are some bad guys to use it against."

"Fortunately Ensign Lair, that is the third reason you're here." Commander Oracle replied with a slight grin. There was a slight clicking sound and a picture of a different airfield appeared. "I've recently obtained data that the Belkans have deployed six stolen Tu-160 Blackjacks and four B1-B Lancers to Vercha airbase, just inside in Verusian territory." Commander Oracle paused and looked at the girls firmly. "The Belkans intend to use them to deploy nuclear weapons against the Osean and Yuktobonian frontlines."

The air suddenly became very tense. Even the ever-happy Hay Lin suddenly went very sombre and for good reason. Taranee was the first to regain her speaking abilities.

"Oh…my…God." Was all she could murmur.

"Even I know what happened fifteen years ago. Are they insane?" Irma asked firmly.

"Is that a rhetorical question? This is probably the same group of people who nuked their own cities to stop the allied advance." Will pointed out. Irma looked a little sheepish.

"Yeah, that was a stupid question, wasn't it?"

"We're still going to need a new flight name." Taranee pointed out. "I'd prefer to avoid advertising our continued existence to our enemies."

"I've got one!" Hay Lin suggested excitedly. "It comes from an ancient Chinese legend that my Grandma told me about, called the legend of the Four Dragons."

"Er Hay, I hate to point this out, but as soon as Cornelia has recovered enough to fly again, she'll be rejoining us." Irma pointed out. Hay Lin ignored her.

"Around five thousand years ago, a dark demon appeared in the sky. With its evil power, it rained death upon the land.

The people below begged the creature for mercy, but the demon merely laughed at them.

Now living amongst the people lived a powerful nymph named Xin Jing. She saw the people's suffering and decided to seek a way of slaying the demon. Eventually, after consulting the wisest of all beings, she discovered that to slay the demon, she would need the powers of all four of the elements, Water, Fire, Earth and Air.

Xin Jing travelled to the far corners of the Earth, seeking magical creatures of the elements. After much travelling, she brought together the four elemental dragons. The red dragon of Fire, the Yellow dragon of Earth, the Pearl dragon of Air and the Black dragon of Water.

The dragons assembled, Xin Jing led the four dragons into battle against the demon. The demon resisted and fought and struggled, but eventually the demon was destroyed and peace returned to the land once more. And since that day, Xin Jing and her four dragons have earned the name Guardians."

"Hmm. Dragon flight. Has a nice ring to it, I think." Irma commented.

"I agree. All in favour?" Will asked the group. The others raised their hands in agreement. "Dragon flight it is then."

As Commander Oracle continued to brief them on their mission, Hay Lin smiled to herself. A dragon was going to be a LOT more fun to draw on her aircraft than a mere tornado.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Captain Jay Serrano of the Belkan army glared in hatred at the bleak, war-torn countryside around him.

"What the hell are we doing in this God-forsaken land?" he asked the sky, clearly not expecting a response.

"Doing what needs to be done Captain, doing what needs to be done." Came the unexpected answer from behind him. He turned to face a man with short black hair wearing a pilot's uniform.

"Captain Zubov, I wasn't expecting you to be here!" Captain Serrano exclaimed in surprise. The other man grinned wolfishly and Captain Serrano felt a shiver go down his spine.

"Of course, it surprises me that high command think that this place needs an aerial defence contingent."

"Sir?"

"Nobody with any sort of airborne capability even knows this place exists, so why have a squadron to defend it?"

An air raid warning alarm went off, saving Captain Serrano from having to answer. Captain Dominic 'Vulture' Zubov. Which, in Captain Serrano's view was probably a good thing. He might have hated Osea and Yuktobonia with a passion, but Captain Zubov gave him the creeps.

It is perhaps unfortunate for him that as he reached his Rapier SAM emplacement that it exploded as a Kh-27 missile smashed into its radar guidance.

000000000000000000000000000000000

On the aircraft that had launched the missile in question, a black Su-47 Berkut with a picture of a black, Chinese-style dragon surrounded by an aura of blue. The pilot, Ensign Irma Lair of the Yuktobonian navy smiled to herself as she locked her second Ks-27 onto the second Rapier missile emplacement.

The second Kh-27 missile flew off the rails from its internal weapons bay and smashed firmly into a second Rapier SAM emplacement.

"This is Water Dragon. Targets destroyed." Irma called out over the radio. Water Dragon because I'm a Navy flier I guess, Irma mused to herself.

The other two SAM sites exploded as a second Berkut fired a pair of Kh-27's into them from the other side. This aircraft was adorned with a fiery red dragon on its side, also of Chinese design.

"This is Fire Dragon. All SAM batteries destroyed on my end." Lieutenant Taranee Cook called out over the radio. She was flying the Berkut with the red dragon painted on its side.

Another two Su-47 Berkut's flew in overhead. The lead Berkut was adorned with a painting of a nymph on its side, while the second had a picture of a pearl-coloured Chinese dragon across its side.

"This is Nymph to all aircraft. Begin your bomb runs now. Use the angle of attack assigned to you in the briefing." Will called out to the others.

Receiving a series of confirmations, Will began her attack run flying in a straight line following the runway. As the targeting reticule for the bombs fell over the runway, a group of black Eurofighter 2000 Typhoon's with Belkan markings emerged to fall right into the centre of the targeting reticule. Without a moments hesitation, Will pressed the bomb release button and dropped four FAB 250 bombs into the centre of the group. Behind her, Hay Lin did the same. The results were devastating to the fighters below, destroying all but two of the twelve fighters taking off and made the runway (at least temporarily) unusable.

Taranee's bombs penetrated the roof of the first hanger with their sheer velocity and proceeded to explode amongst the parked bombers inside. Nobody was going to be able to use them ever again, except perhaps for scrap. The hanger structure simply ceased to exist as the explosions tore the hanger apart.

The second hanger suffered the same fate as first, as Irma's bombs ripped through the building. But unlike the first hanger, this one was next to the Belkan's ammunition storage facilities. The resulting secondary explosion ripped away the rest of the facility, the shock wave knocking the flimsy, temporary structures over like dominoes.

The remaining two black Eurofighters pulled up from the runway and turned to engage them. In the lead was Captain Dominic 'Vulture' Zubov, furious that his elite squadron had largely been destroyed before it could even get into the air. On his wing was Lieutenant Paul Von Nowen, a green rookie. As the two fighters climbed, to be met by the two Berkut's that had bombed the squadron on the runway, he fired two Meteor missiles at them.

As Will rolled her fighter away from Zubov's first missile, while Hay Lin evaded the second. Both missiles failed to track, much to Will's surprise. As she continued her turn, she felt her plane shudder slightly as 27mm shells from Zubov's internal Mauser cannon hit her tail. Accelerating, she moved out of Zubov's sights. As Zubov's fighter pulled up on her tail, Will spun her fighter over, a stream of cannon shells passing under her fighters belly.

Hay Lin had far less trouble with Lieutenant Paul Von Nowen. As he broke away from his squadron leader, he flew right into her sights. Pressing the fire button on her cannon, she saw his black Eurofighter come apart as 30mm shells tore his fighter apart.

"This is Air Dragon. Splash two!" Hay Lin called excitedly over the radio.

Will jerked her plane up hard and slowed her aircraft a little. Not by much, but enough for Zubov's Eurofighter to overshoot her. As he pulled his aircraft up to come round for a second pass, Will locked an R-73 missile onto his tail and fired. The missile flew into the left tailpipe and Zubov's Eurofighter was torn out of the sky in a blaze of fire.

"This is Nymph. Splash one." Will called out.

Meanwhile, Taranee and Irma were busy with a four-plane combat air patrol from the newly formed Verusian Air Force. The Verusian pilots were no match for Irma and Taranee. Especially as the Verusian's were flying obsolete Hawker Hunters.

"I heard the Verusian's were short of fighters, but this is ridiculous. Did they really think they could challenge a couple of Berkut's with Hunter's?" Irma asked derisively.

"Desperation I guess." Taranee replied as she looked down on the smouldering remains of their opponents aircraft on the ground below. "Or stupid commanding officers, take your pick."

"Yeah, guess so." Irma replied. "Still don't like killing a bunch of kids who can barely fly, because their commanding officers are a bunch of #{}}%$$"

000000000000000000000000000000

Lieutenant Rebecca Rudolph of the Emmerian Air Force (callsign, at least for now, Orube.) watched the four Su-47 Berkut's land.

"Now why is the lead fighter damaged?" She mused to herself. "Especially after a supposedly harmless test flight.

AN: As the Su-47 Berkut was in the real world, never developed into an operational fighter, in the Ace Combat universe it was. As a result, I've taken the liberty of providing (Hopefully) a rough guide to what it may have been, had it been developed properly.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: No I don't own.

Elyon concentrated hard as she flew through the canyon. If the Oracle's intelligence was right (and it normally was) then she should be coming up over her target just beyond this next turn in the canyon. The early morning suns rays were starting to peek over the horizon, promising a beautiful day.

Spotting the turn, Elyon climbed and left the canyon behind her and started running her aircraft's cameras. In the compound below, soldiers began running around, no doubt scrambling to man the AAA batteries and SAM sites that littered the base. Turning away, Elyon heard her threat warning alarm go off as she accelerated away at three times the speed of sound.

"So we're now Dragon flight?" Cornelia asked as she stretched her arms out and flexed her fingers.

"Yup. I'm Air, Taranee's Fire, Irma's Water and you're Earth!" Hay Lin said excitedly, practically bouncing off of the walls.

"Nice. You think I'm going to fly into the ground?" Cornelia asked sardonically.

"No, she thinks that you're such a bad flier, that you'd be better off there." Irma countered with a smirk. "And let's face it, she has a point Corny."

"And you're too clumsy to even put up a good fight there." Cornelia replied sweetly. "That's why you're water. It wouldn't matter so much if you fall."

"Probably more to do with the fact that I'm smart enough to handle a boat and you're not, you blond d-" Irma's rant was suddenly cut off as Cornelia suddenly pulled her into a powerful kiss.

"Well that seems to work." Taranee commented quietly.

"I wouldn't bet on it stopping them for long." Hay Lin whispered back. Irma meanwhile, grinned at Cornelia with a predatory grin.

"Oh you think you can shut me up like that Corny?" she asked. "Well two can play at that game!" Suddenly, Irma tackled Cornelia onto the bed and started tickling her and as Irma started to undo Cornelia's blouse, Taranee and Hay Lin decided to make a discrete exit.

Caleb pulled on his trousers and smiled at the sleeping redhead on his bed.

"Sleep well Will." He murmured, stroking her short hair.

"And how am I supposed to do that while you're stroking me like that?" Will muttered grumpily, before giving Caleb a predatory look not too dissimilar from the one Irma had given Cornelia. "Unless you fancy another round?"

"Tempting, but I'm needed for a briefing in ten minutes with Oracle." He said sadly. He leaned forward and kissed her nose. "Later maybe."

Will nodded in a slightly dreamy way, before suddenly noticing the time.

"Ack! I'm supposed to be in a briefing with Luba in TEN MINUTES!" she exclaimed, suddenly jumping out of the bed and pulling her clothes on. "I'mgonnabelate!"

Caleb put his lips over hers and kissed her firmly.

"Will, breath. Less haste, more speed. Otherwise you end up making silly mistakes." He told her, pointing at her bra, which she was trying to put on upside-down.

Will stuck her tongue out at him and grinned. "I'll simply say you…got in the way." She countered with a smile. "Hopefully, she'll go easy on me."

"And maybe you'll only have to do fifty press-ups instead of one hundred." Caleb smirked.

"I'll get you back later." Will replied, giving him a kiss and ran out of the barracks.

Elyon barely had time to register that she was under attack before 27mm cannon shells raked across her aircraft. Pushing the nose of her aircraft down, she started to push her aircraft as fast as she could, but her starboard engine coughed and spluttered and for all its power, the remaining engine could not push the aircraft fast enough to escape. And as the hostile aircraft (a Tornado GR4, she could see that now.) came around for another pass, Elyon discovered something that made her situation worse. He was not alone and her radio had been destroyed in the opening attack. Elyon had only one thing to say.

"Damn."

Lieutenant Rebecca Rudolph spotted the four Tornado's attacking a Mig-25 Foxbat and raised an eyebrow in surprise. As far as she knew, the Osean Air Force didn't operate Tornado's and the behaviour of the Tornado's was pretty odd as well. It seemed as though the Tornado crews were trying to force the Mig down in one piece, using cannon, instead of missiles. She had little time to puzzle this further, as two of the Tornado's turned and fired, their sidewinder missiles streaking off their missile racks.

Rebecca's response was instantaneous. Twisting hard and releasing flares, she felt her eyeballs push into their sockets as her plane turned. The missiles missed and exploded behind her. Her next action was more instinct than anything else, she really didn't have time to think. Two R-77 missiles flew off of their rails and despite the fact that they hadn't locked on and hadn't been armed, they slammed into the two Tornado's and knocked the two fighter-bombers out of the sky.

"In for a penny, in for a pound." She muttered to herself and threw her fighter downwards. A targeting reticule glided over the tail of the Tornado attacking the Mig and beeped as the missile locked on. The R-73 missile tore off of her wing and blew the aircraft out of the sky. The remaining Tornado turned and started to flee, but an R-77 missile fired from her left wing tore him out of the sky.

The Mig waved its wings at her and the pilot got out a torch and flashed a message over.

T.H.A.N.K. Y.O.U. R.A.D.I.O. O.U.T.

Rebecca pulled out her standard issue torch out of her front pocket and flashed a message back.

F.O.L.L.O.W. M.E.

A message flashed back.

O.K.

With a slight turn, Rebecca brought her fighter to face Candracar airbase, the Mig turned and followed.

"Sorry I'm late!" Will exclaimed as she skidded into the briefing room with Luba and the others. Luba smirked.

"That's ok. The briefing isn't due to start for-" Luba paused and checked her watch. "Another hour or so."

"WHAT!"

Luba and Oracle exchanged amused looks. Luba was keeping her face straight, although it was clearly with some difficulty and the Oracle's mouth was twitching at the edges. Will resisted the urge to give them death glares. Then, as if things weren't bad enough, Caleb and his team walked into the briefing room.

"The men are assembled and ready for the briefing sir!" Caleb said with an authoritative air, before his eyes suddenly widened in shock at the sight of Will in the room.

The Oracle raised an eyebrow and Luba snickered, now very amused.

"The briefing isn't due for another hour Lieutenant." He pointed out calmly. Caleb looked at his watch and frowned.

"Funny, I'm SURE Irma said that it was due to start at eight." Caleb said puzzled.

"She did say eight. I was there." Aldarn added with the slightest hint of amusement. He had an idea what was going on.

"That's what she told me." Will growled. She too, was starting to get an idea as to what was going on and that did not bode well for the young brunette pilot. Not very well at all. "She set us up."

"Set us up? Why?" Caleb asked. Will gave him a look of disbelief.

"You don't know Irma very well, do you?" she asked Caleb. Caleb shrugged.

"Not really." A look of comprehension crossed his face and he slapped his hand against his face. "We've just been had, haven't we?" Will nodded and Caleb growled.

"I'm going to FIND that water dragon and get revenge. Coming?" Will asked and Caleb nodded.

"Got anything in mind?" he asked and Will shook her head.

"I'll think of something." Will replied.

Elyon felt her teeth shudder as she put her aircraft down on the runway. Not one of her better landings by a long shot, but then again, her plane WAS riddled full of holes and she was flying on only one engine. As she stepped down from the cockpit, she turned and faced her rescuer.

"Thank you." Elyon said calmly. "Without you, I wouldn't be here."

"They wanted to force you down, not kill you." The woman told her coldly. "If they wanted you dead, you WOULD be dead. And I wouldn't be facing the inevitable court marshal for stepping in." She smile and her blue eyes lit up. "I'd still jump in. I'm Lieutenant Rebecca Rudolph and my callsign is Orube over here."

"Lieutenant Elyon Brown." Elyon replied with a smile. "Nice to meet you." As the ground crews removed the film from the cameras on Elyon's aircraft, the two of them walked towards the mess hall.

"Have you seen Irma?" Will asked Hay Lin and Taranee through gritted teeth.

"No." Hay Lin said.

"Yes." Taranee said at the same time.

"Either you have or you haven't." Will growled.

"She's in the med wing with Cornelia." Taranee shot out, before Hay Lin could say anything. "They were…busy when we left them."

As Will stormed off with Caleb following her, Hay Lin looked at her friend.

"Why did you tell her that? Now Irma'll be narked at us!" she asked plaintively. Taranee shrugged her shoulders.

"Better her than us. Trust me, you DON'T want to deal with and angry Will." Taranee replied. "Not when she's that angry."

"Have you ever seen an angry Irma?" Hay Lin countered. "Trust me, it's not a pretty sight."

"Maybe Will and Caleb will kill her and we won't have to worry?" Taranee suggested. "I'm going to stay out of their way."

"Maybe that's the best idea." Hay Lin agreed.

The Oracle looked at the photographs Elyon had taken with a frown. The installation was well guarded and judging by the number of anti-aircraft defences, a helicopter insertion was out of the question. Luba was frowning with concentration as she examined the photographs.

"Do you think that an extraction is possible?" he asked. Luba nodded.

"Feasible? Certainly." Luba said firmly. "But I'll need Caleb's team with me as well. I just hope that he's as good as his reputation."

"He is." Oracle confirmed. He turned his attention to another set of photographs, this time from an observer on the ground. "The girls will have a difficult time attacking this target though."

Luba looked at the photographs of the target that the W.I.T.C.H girls were to attack and shook her head.

"I doubt that even the legendary Mobius squadron could succeed attacking that." She murmured and Oracle smiled.

"Fortunately, we only need OUR squadron to succeed." He replied slightly grimly. "And I have every confidence that they will."

Luba looked at him doubtfully. After a minutes silence, she finally spoke.

"I hope you're right old friend, I hope you're right."

"IRMA LAIR, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Will bellowed as she walked into the medical bay. Irma pulled the covers over her head and tried to hide. Cornelia also pulled the same bed sheet up to cover herself.

"What the HELL are you DOING?" Cornelia asked, desperately trying to cover herself up and blushing to her roots.

It took a minute or two for Cornelia's question to penetrate Will's aura of anger and another thirty seconds for her to notice the clothing scattered all over the room. Then she started blushing as she realised what Cornelia and Irma had been doing.

"Is she here?" Caleb demanded as he stormed in behind Will, who promptly dragged him out. "What?"

"Cornelia and Irma are both in there. And they're not exactly dressed." She hissed at him. A confused expression crossed his face, before a sudden look of comprehension crossed it and a slightly dazed look came over his face.

"Oh." He said in a toneless voice. He gave Will a predatory look. "Well in the meantime, we can make up for lost time."

"You know, that's not a bad idea." Will replied with a smirk and pulled him into a deep kiss. "Think we've got the time?"

"How quick do you think we can be?"

"Irma, what did you do to annoy Will and Caleb so badly?" Cornelia asked dryly as she pulled her clothes on.

"I just told her about today's briefing." Irma replied in an innocent tone of voice. Cornelia gave her a look and Irma waved her hands in the air. "Fine, I told them it was an hour earlier than it was. Happy?"

"Nice. Wonder why Will's so annoyed about it then?"

"Beats me Corny." Irma replied with a shrug. "Maybe she was in a really bad mood today or something."

"Maybe. Guess we'll find out later."

Twenty minutes later, Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin all traipsed into the briefing room, followed by Caleb and his team of commandos.

"Is everyone here?" Oracle asked, looking around the briefing room. "Yes? Good."

He paused and pressed a button. A photograph projected onto the screen behind him.

"We have found where Prime Minister Nikanor is being held." He pointed to the compound in the photograph with a pointer. "Lieutenant Brown took an aerial reconnaissance earlier today." He pressed a button and the image was magnified.

"As you can see, there are considerable triple A emplacements and SAM sites around the base, making an airborne insertion impossible." He pressed the button again and another part of the photograph was enlarged.

"The base is surrounded by open ground, making any approach difficult from the ground. But not impossible. Captain Luba Perrin believes that it is possible, with help from Caleb's team."

"What are we needed for then?" Irma asked and Oracle gave her a smile. With a push of a button, another photograph came up, this time of a heavily armoured warship.

"THIS is why." He said calmly. ""This is the Belkan warship Hamburg, a stealth ship that is passing near our coast to receive the last remaining Belkan nuclear warhead. Your attack will be our diversion as Luba's troops approach. The attack will provide a good reason for the activity at the base to be heightened and nobody will question the arrival of another truck."

Irma looked at the ship and swallowed hard. She'd heard about the Hamburg.

"With the amount of armour that ship has, it'll be a tough target to sink." She pointed out. "Not to mention all it's triple A and the escorts that thing will have."

"Fortunately, it's on its own this time, seeking to avoid attention." Oracle told her. His face became serious. "I believe that the Belkans are planning to fire the warhead into the coast of one of the two sides."

"What is it with these Belkans and their damn nukes?" Cornelia snapped at no one in particular. "Bad enough that they started this war, without them trying to escalate it!"

"Must be a fetish." Irma commented dryly. "Maybe they're members of the nut-job society?"

At this comment, everyone laughed. Nut-job society seemed about right for these people.

"Do you know where they're going to fire the damn thing?" Taranee growled as the noise settled down. Oracle shook his head.

"Sadly no. The details of the attack are still being decided. An attack that will not happen if we manage to sink the Hamburg. I have every confidence that you will succeed."

"I love his confidence." Irma told the group sardonically. "Is there anything else you'd like us to do while we're at it? Defeat the entire Belkan Navy perhaps? Or just fly to Pluto and back in a minute?"

Oracle chuckled, much to everyone's surprise.

"Miss Lair, I am more than confident in your abilities." He said firmly. "After all, what could possibly defeat the pilots who can stand toe to toe with the legendary Razgriz?"

Irma just stared in shock. She didn't think higher-ranking officers could even HAVE a sense of humour!

"Looks like I've seen everything now." Hay Lin commented with a grin.

"Your aircraft will be carrying two Kh-41 anti-ship missiles each. That should help." Oracle continued. "It will require at least four hits to sink her."

"Irma, Cornelia and Taranee will be the attack group. Hay Lin and myself will provide top cover against any Belkan fighters." Will listed off methodically. "That way, we have enough missiles to sink it and still have a spare in case that doesn't do it."

Oracle nodded in agreement. "You have a plan of attack then?"

"Of sorts." Will replied. "We go in at ultra low level to minimise detection risk until we get close enough to attack. Then we hit it from at least two angles. Consider it as good as sunk."

Five Su-47 Berkut's skimmed the ground below with barely a dozen metres between them and the ground. For most pilots, the challenge would be almost impossible. For the pilots of Dragon flight, better known as W.I.T.C.H, it was merely exhilarating. As the Hamburg came into sight, Taranee and Irma dived to attack, the ships stealthy capabilities forcing them to get a lot closer than they'd like. Hay Lin and Will climbed to a higher altitude in preparation for the inevitable arrival of Belkan fighters and Cornelia set her aircraft up for the next attack run.

As the Belkan troops ran around the base in response to the attack on the Hamburg, nobody noticed the arrival of two army trucks. Quickly and quietly, Caleb and his team got out and headed towards their designated positions. As they found the Prime Minister, he quickly signalled his team, who began to take positions.

Irma felt her plane shudder as the two Kh-41 missiles flew off their rails and slammed into the Hamburg. Despite the sheer volume of fire coming off of the ship, Irma had gotten as close as possible before firing. And as she pulled away, she felt her plane struggle. The Hamburg's AAA fire had taken its toll. Only one of Taranee's missiles had made it through though and Cornelia dived in to attack from the front.

Above them, Hay Lin and Will danced around the Belkan fighters that had jumped to the defence of their ship. They had both downed two each with their R-77 missiles at long range and the remaining pilots were not in the same league.

Spinning her Su-47 Berkut onto its back, Will watched her opponent jerk his aircraft up hard, pulling away for a second shot at her. She pushed her nose towards the ground and pulled a very tight loop that managed to put her on the tail of the still climbing Eurofighter that her opponent was flying. An R-73 missile locked on and with a whoosh, she fired. The missile entered the left tailpipe and tore the fighter apart.

Hay Lin had even less trouble than Will. Her opponent, also flying an Eurofighter, overshot her as she climbed above him. Before he could turn to engage her, she had flipped her aircraft in a way Will would not have believed possible. An R-73 missile flew off her weapons rack and smashed into the fighter, tearing it from the sky.

There was a muffled thump as the entry charge did its job. Jumping through the door, Caleb and Aldarn opened fire on the surprised guards inside with their MP-5 sub-machine guns. The guards were dead before they hit the ground, nine millimetre rounds through the head.

"Prime Minister Nikanor, are you ok?" Caleb asked the slightly portly, dark-haired man in front of him. Nikanor nodded and Caleb hauled him to his feet. "Good. We're here to rescue you."

"Thank you." Nikanor said with a small smile.

Cornelia's missiles slammed into the bridge of the Hamburg and it even started to list.

"Damnitt, we only need one more hit to sink it!" Irma cursed.

"Yes, but we don't have any more anti-ship missiles left!" Will countered. Irma smirked and replied.

"Are you sure about that?" She challenged and pointed the nose of her aircraft towards the ship. There was a sickening pause as Hay Lin realised what she was doing.

"Irma, NO!" she screamed. Irma ignored her. Cannon fire raked her aircraft as she got closer and it seemed like it only stayed up through sheer willpower. Less than a metre away from the ship, she ejected from the cockpit. The plane smashed into the Hamburg and there was a tremendous explosion. The ship broke in two and went straight down. A few breathless seconds later, Irma's parachute opened and she drifted down.

"Remind me to kill her for giving me a heart attack." Cornelia said in a deadpan voice.

"Take a number and get in line." Will replied, although there was no hiding the relief in her voice. "All aircraft, RTB."

Luba's team swiftly overcame the Belkan crews at their anti-aircraft positions, moving so fast and furious that the enemy barely had time to register that they were there. As Caleb's team hurried over, with Prime Minister Nikanor, she smiled to herself.

"Good to see the Oracle's faith in you was justified." She said with a smile. "Now let's get out of here."

Two Mi-8 Hip helicopters arrived in shortly and both teams were safely airlifted out without any trouble.

When Irma landed in a field next to the oceans edge, she was immediately met by a young man with short brown hair and an AK-47 strapped to his back. He offered her his hand and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Nigel. Nigel Ashcroft. And you must be one of the Oracle's pilots." He said with amusement. "I'll see you back."


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: If you haven't read the other disclaimers by now, you're not about to start now, are you? I don't own either of these series.

AN: I've put up a poll on my profile as to which fic I should focus on next. Feel free to go over and vote for one.

"Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, but what are you guys doing out here?" Irma asked as Nigel scanned the horizon with his binoculars. Nigel pointed to the military scrap yard that was just in front of them.

"The Belkans have a resupply base hidden in the scrap yard. We think it's where they've taken the nuke that was meant to go on the Hamburg. But after you guys sank it, they've taken the warhead back here," he said as he scanned the horizon. "Hmm. I don't see any guards."

"Nobodies home huh? Typical," Irma joked, but Nigel didn't so much as grin.

"If they're as bad with their aim as you are with your jokes, then we should be fine," he said and Irma frowned.

"Now just a m-"

"To be honest, I wasn't expecting to see any guards," he continued, cutting her off mid-sentence. "Wouldn't be much point in a secret supply base if the guards presence gave them away. But they are definitely in there, I'd bet on it."

"So they aren't just going to let us take away their wittle toys then?" Irma asked sardonically. "Such a shame. They really should learn to play nicely."

Nigel rolled his eyes and he gave a set of whispered instructions to the man he had waved over. The man nodded and took up his position at the highest point he could find with his L115A3 sniper rifle, which in this case was a small mound overlooking the site below them.

"There's a lot of open ground down there. Virtually impossible to approach without being spotted," Nigel grumbled. "This is worse than the ruins of Stonehenge."

"You were there?" Irma asked with surprise and Nigel nodded.

"Yup, with the North Point Parachute Regiment," he said, before pointing to a short man with a beard. "He's a veteran of the Delarus Islands campaign, a former Marine. Most of the men here are veterans of one campaign or another."

"So who are you guys? Mercenaries?" Irma asked curiously and Nigel winced.

"No, we work for a PMC," he said, before holding up a finger. "No I'm not going to tell you who."

With practised ease, the group spread out and began to approach the scrap yard. For the first twenty seconds, it seemed like the site was abandoned as not one round of ammunition was fired their way at all. Then suddenly, all hell broke loose as two machine guns opened fire, spraying 7.62mm rounds across the open field. Several men were hit and Irma heard a familiar whoosh as a Milan Anti-tank weapon was fired at one of the machine gun posts. Another whoosh and the second was also silenced. Nigel waved his men forward.

"Move in!" he yelled and as a unit, his remaining men moved in with the smooth precision and professionalism of an experienced unit.

W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C.

"Cornelia, if you don't stop pacing, I swear I'm going to NAIL your feet to the FLOOR!" Taranee said exasperatedly. "We know she got out, I'm sure she'll be fine."

"No she won't be fine!" Cornelia snapped angrily. "I'm going to KILL her for this! Of all the stupid, idiotic-"

"She did what was needed," Hay Lin pointed out quietly from her sketchpad. "And we all saw her get out. She'll be fine."

Outside the doorway, Lieutenant Rebecca Rudolph listened curiously. There was definitely more going on here than met the eye at this base and she was determined to find out what.

"Who's missing?" she asked as she walked into the room. The girls gave her curious looks and she raised an eyebrow.

"I could hear you outside," she explained, before leaning against the wall and crossing her arms. "So who's missing?"

"Irma," Taranee said quickly. "Had a bad landing near the test site and it's close to the frontlines."

"And I don't want her to get captured," Cornelia added quickly. Orube raised her eyebrow a little more.

"How come you aren't testing them further away?" she asked curiously. "The only time I've ever heard of anyone testing weapons near the frontlines is when you're actually using them on the frontlines."

"I'm surprised the Emmerian government hasn't called you back home," Cornelia said, abruptly changing the subject and Rebecca frowned slightly. "I imagine that they wouldn't want one of their pilots caught up in a war where they're neutral."

"I am not a coward or a fool Miss hale and it would be a good idea for you to remember that," she said in an annoyed voice before leaving.

"Nice going Corny!" Hay Lin snapped angrily at her. "Now you've gone and annoyed ANOTHER person!"

"Oh come on, we're TRYING to be a COVERT operation!" Cornelia shot back through gritted teeth. "The less she knows the better."

"How very interesting," Orube murmured to herself from outside the doorway. She walked away with a plan forming in her head to discover exactly WHAT was going on here.

W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C.

Clearing the Belkan base was far harder than he expected, Nigel admitted to himself as his men moved into the facility. The scrap yard was filled with hidden buildings and the Belkan troops were using them to mount lethal snap ambushes and counterattacks. The Belkan's, a mix of GSG-9 troops and Fallschirmjäger soldiers were well trained and well disciplined. Fortunately, so were Nigel's men. And there were more of them. He ducked aside as he spotted a sudden muzzle flash and two 5.56mm calibre rounds bounced into the wall where his head had been moments earlier. With a curse, he returned fire, gunning down the Fallschirmjäger soldier who had almost hit him. No this was not going to be easy.

"Thomas, Higgs, take flanking positions and move in!" he shouted out, waving his hand at two of his men. With practiced efficiency the two men moved either side of Nigel and they moved further in.

W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C.

Breaking into the Oracle's office proved to be surprisingly easy for Rebecca, much to her disappointment she was hoping for a challenge. She reached over to the nearest filing cabinet when suddenly a clear authoritative voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Your Aunt Luba warned me that you were inclined to be curious Rebecca," the voice said with amusement. "I should have listened to her. Now turn around slowly please."

With her hands held high, Rebecca slowly turned to face the owner of the voice and much to her surprise it was the man she knew as the Oracle and his face was smiling.

"As it so happens, we're in need of a spare pilot and your aunt believes you can be trusted. And you did save Lieutenant Brown," he continued. "So take a chair and I'll explain everything."

Slightly nervously, Rebecca sat down and Oracle sat down opposite her.

"So tell me my dear, have you ever heard of an organisation called the Grey Men?" he asked.

W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C.

"Hey Irma, get aboard," Nigel shouted over to Irma as he pulled up beside her in a beat-up truck and Irma jumped in surprise.

"What are you doing in that old thing?" she asked with a look of disdain. "Urgh, you just made me sound like Corny."

"Who's Corny?" he asked curiously and Irma smiled.

"Corny's my girlfriend," she replied and a twinkle appeared in Nigel's eye.

"Girlfriend?" he asked curiously. "Do you think she'd be interested in someone who can tell a joke?"

"Hey my jokes are awesome!" Irma protested with a smirk. "It's not my fault you aren't sophisticated enough to get them!"

"Yeah, whatever," Nigel replied with a roll of his eyes. "Whatever delusions make you feel happy."

"You're just jealous," Irma countered with a smirk as she hauled herself up into the truck. "Jealous that my awesomeness outshines you."

Nigel simply replied by sticking his tongue out.

W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C.

"So Miss Rudolph, are you in or out?" Oracle asked and Rebecca frowned thoughtfully.

"You're fighting a virtually secret war," she began and Oracle nodded.

"I believe we have already covered that," he pointed out.

"And you are inviting me to join you, risking an international incident if I get caught," she continued and Oracle gave her a smile.

"If you get caught, you can claim that I blackmailed you into joining us," Oracle said with a small hand gesture. "That will protect you from any repercussions."

"No, I'll fly without any false pretences," Rebecca said firmly. "I'm in."

"Then welcome to the fight," Oracle said with a smile.

W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C. .W.I.T.C.

"Hey, did you guys miss me?" Irma asked in an exaggerated voice and Cornelia stormed towards her.

"Irma Lair," she began, "Don't you EVER do anything so stupid again!"

"And miss such a warm welcome back?" Irma asked sardonically and Cornelia gave her a smirk.

"You want a warm welcome home?" she asked and before Irma could say anything else, Cornelia had grabbed her and kissed her deeply on the lips. "Want to take it a bit further?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Irma replied with a smirk and the two women made a beeline for their quarters.

Taranee meanwhile was staring at Nigel in disbelief.

"Nigel?" she asked and Nigel turned to face her.

"Taranee?"


End file.
